Ok, I have been putting off posting a thread on my tank, but the guy who I bought the system from has asked for an update, so now is as good a time as any... First some background and details, then on to the pictures... I have a good friend, and fellow biologist (I am fisheries biologist) who has been into reef aquaria for three or four years now, and he talked me into checking out the hobby. Basically, I was sick of him talking about it, and me having no idea what he was talking about. I dove into the wealth of information out there both in books and on the internet, and even joined the club, months before I would ever put a drop of saltwater in a tank. This is definitely not the norm, but it has served me very well. So, after 10 months of research, I bought the tank from a fellow member after he suffered a total crash due to a heater malfunction. The tank has been running for 5 months now, and has about 25 lbs. of live rock in it which I allowed to mature for 6 weeks before I introduced a coral. I have just introduced my first fish one month ago, after four months of the tank running. Specifications: Tank: 29 gallon Biocube Light: 20" Sunpod 150W metal halide w/ [STRIKE]DE Radium 20K[/STRIKE] Pheonix 14K bulb and 12 LEDs (6 white and 6 blue) Skimmer: Tunze 9002 nano skimmer Auto Top Off: www.aquahub.com DIY ATO kit Accessories: StevieT 3-chamber media rack w/ filter floss, Chemipure Elite and Seachem Purigen Maintenance: Daily: 2-part solution and feed mysis and/or cyclopeeze (4-5x per week) Weekly: Clean glass, change filter floss, 5 gallon water change, prune macroalgae, clean skimmer cup and clean return pump filter As Needed: Clean pumps, water tests, and change media Parameters: Nitrogen compounds: 0 mg/L Phosphates: 0 mg/L pH: [STRIKE]8.1 - 8.4[/STRIKE] 8.2 - 8.4 Calcium: [STRIKE]400[/STRIKE] 425 - 450 ppm Alkalinity: [STRIKE]3.5 - 4.5[/STRIKE] 3.0 - 4.0 meq/L ([STRIKE]9.8 - 12.6[/STRIKE] 8.4 - 11.2 dKH) Magnesium: ~1400-1600 ppm Temperature: [STRIKE]79.0 - 82.5[/STRIKE] 79.0 - 80.0 F Metal Halide: 12:30 PM to 9:30 PM LEDs: 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM Livestock: Invertebrates and Fish: 1 skunk cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) 1 Randall's pistol shrimp (Alpheus randalli) 3 scarlet hermit crabs (Paguristes cadenati) 2 Nassarius snails (Nassarius vibex) 2 Trochus snails (Trochus sp.) Various Nerite and Cerith snails 1 Yasha haze goby (Stonogobiops yasha) [STRIKE]1 McCosker's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus mccoskeri[/STRIKE] Soft Corals: 11 Zoanthid varieties (Pink palys, sea foam palys, radioactive dragon eye, fire and ice, armor of the gods, Tubbs Blues, Nuclear Greens, Bam Bams, Blue Palythoas and 2 no names) 1 Ricordea yuma - neon green + 9 babies 1 Ricordea yuma - pink 2 Ricordea florida - blue 2 Ricordea florida - orange and blue 1 Ricordea florida - pink 2 Mini carpet anemone (Stichodactyla tapetum) LPS: 10 Acanthastrea lordhowensis varieties 2 Chalices (Echinophyllia spp) - 1 red and [STRIKE]1 blue[/STRIKE] 1 purple with yellow-green mouths 7 Favia spp. - 1 green and 1 green with peach center, and one bright green with lemon-lime center, 1 dragon soul, 1 aussie reverse prism, 1 purple with neon green center 1 Lobophylli sp. - sea foam green 1 Frogspawn (Euphyllia sp.) - green with pink tip SPS: [STRIKE]2[/STRIKE] 1 Encrusting montipora (Montipora danae) - purple haze and [STRIKE]superman[/STRIKE] 1 Velvet stone coral (Montipora spongodes) [STRIKE]- Looking to trade[/STRIKE] 1 Bali green slimer (Acropora yongeni) 2 Millepora (Acropora millepora) - 1 rose and 1 ORA green 2 various Acropora staghorns Pictures in the next post...
Full Tank Shot Progression: 4/1/2009 4/19/2009 7/26/2009 Left side (with pooch in the back) 7-26-2009 Right side 7-26-2009 Chalices 7-26-2009 Ricordea Garden 7-26-2009 Sea Foam Palys 7-26-2009 Shrimp and SPS 7-26-2009 Superman Montipora 7-26-2009 Yasha Goby 7-26-2009 Yasha video link (Go iphone!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wlGHQl3a5I
Very nice! looks like its progressing realy well. The only thing I would watch is yout alk. You should try to keep it in line with the calc and mag. Your calc is 400 to 450, 450 being roughly 10% over NSW, your alk should be in the same ball park. You can get stning going on acros if the alk gets to weird. Great job!!
Ben - great pics & beautiful tank - everything is looking really good !!! Thanks for starting a tank thread & sharing !!!
Ben, Looking good, soon you'll start running into my problem, which is too many frags, not enough room. I hate having frag racks in my tank, but too many corals, so now there are 3 racks. If you ever come up to the Chicago area, drop by and I'll send you home with some frags
I recently acquired a new resident. I've been waiting for my system to be ready, and the price to be right for a McCosker's Flasher Wrasse. He/she looks great, is adventurous, and eats whatever I put in the tank. So far so good... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P430NXQK6XA
looks great ben. you will love the new wrasse, I have several and just love them. easier than anthias but just as colorful. I got a ricordia with your name on it to add to your collection
Thanks for the comments guys. V. Let me know on that Ricordea! I have a blue florida, and that green yuma has recently put out about 3 or 4 mini shrooms. Is this how they reproduce? The largest is dime size, but there are two the size of a pencil eraser.
yep, most softies reproduce by fission, especially shrooms, ricorida, and yuma's. I know on my ricordia it grew a second mouth and then very slowly the two mouths grew apart and the rim grew between them. Just got myself a 6-line wrasse, maybe to help clean up some of the planaria and excessive bristle worms I've got.
Here are a couple new pieces I got from "Mr. Coral". This is a vendor that I believe is out of Maryland. I ordered 3 new acans and 3 new faviids from him. The order arrived on time and was packaged impeccably. This will definitely not be my last order from him. I believe the website mrcoral.com is down for maintenance, but he runs specials for people on nano-reef.com all the time: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=217568 Anyway, here are the two nicest acans: And here are the two nicest favia, on the left is "dragon soul", and on the right is some type of maze brain:
I have updated the description of my tank. I've gained and lost a few corals, changed bulbs, and increased my stability quite a bit. The only big thing that I have been through, is beating out a big Bryopsis outbreak. After raising my magnesium to about 1800 ppm using Bulk Reef Supply chemicals for about two months and seeing no change, I broke down and used Kent Tech M magnesium supplement, and added an emerald crab. After about a week and a half, all of the bryopsis was really weak/dying looking, and after about 3 more weeks, I had no macroalgae left whatsoever (a shame, bc I had some really pretty purple and pink varieties), and my emerald was about 4X the size as when I put him in, including 3 molts (I need to catch him and take him to NSA). Now, if I just get rid of the 30 or so Aiptasia, I will be pretty satisfied overall, and I just recieved a bottle of Aiptasia X along with a few other goodies from Marine Depot. Also, it's about two weeks from the tank's 1 year birthday... And now, PICTURES!!! Clown and frogspawn Acanthastrea and Ricordea Armor of the God's, Blue Palys, and the slowest growing Bali green slimer ever Acan overhead shot Ricordea overhead shot Nuclear Green Palys and Bam Bam zoas
Ben tanks looking fantastic - thanks for sharing !!! Love the Ricordea garden & the beautiful Acans We started our tanks at almost the same time - Happy Birthday in 2 weeks !
Here are a few shots from today. Bare with the photo work, I'm borrowing my father's camera (Nikon D70), and I don't have a macro lens, and am a total rookie playing with it... FTS 4/13/2010: Yasha and Pistol:
Here are some updated shots from today (8-12-10) FTS (check out the difference between the Green Millepora and the Birdsnest between this picture and the last one above: My Acanthastrea: LPS: Finally, Top Down of my red chalice and my Ricordea collection:
