Well everything has been doing well in the tank. Think I finally got everything back to normal and found one of my calcium stealing culprits. I had one of those calcium absorbing algae plants in my tank and over the past few weeks or so it has grown from being a little baby to a full grown plant and spread. The plant is now out of the tank.
Also finally picked up a used MP20 from a Officer that was breaking down his tank. Been waiting so long to pick one of these up only thing I noticed is the motor has a slight hum to it. but seems to be working good and I got the vibrations out of it. I set it on to reef crest mode.
Still gotta get some updated pictures. The tank is getting closer to what I wanted out of it. I picked up some corals from 1 of the guys that rescued them from ECA and they seem to be doing well.
Been awhile since I have updated this. A lot has happened. I proposed to my girlfriend back in July on our 4 year anniversary so needless to say the wedding is already planned and reserved within 2 weeks haha.
Dresses are already bought I was def not prepared for this hahahahahaha. I will need to have my tank able to run on its own minus food for 2 weeks by July 2012.
I have been trying to take good pictures but just having to much trouble getting the right colors. Only time I seem to get true colors of my tank is when the lights are out and I use the flash. I have repeatedly tried to set my white balance different and I am always trying to adjust shutter speed,iso,the distance thing that alters the lighting. I have a Canon Powershot S5 IS. My camera does not have the option for RAW files.
Now with the tanks update.
Most of the SPS was having problems with RTN so I moved all SPS that showed the signs into another tank with fresh SW mix and within a week all was gone even my purple garf. As much as I hate to lose anything in my tank this was actually a big boulder lifted off the shoulders. There are some SPS left just not many. Everything else is doing very well. Some of the chalices I got in the fall time are finally showing growth at a good speed. The clams are doing great both I believe are showing 1/2-1" growth even bought a little ORA gold maxima from DPA on Sunday so far it looks healthy. It is small 1 1/2" shell so my worry it making it to the 4" mark.
I am going to have some devils hand frags for sale or trade. I have atleast 6 2-4" frags 3 mounted in shells.
I have had another big fish loss recently. Our pink square anthias male jumped out sometime at night probably during a fight with his female friend. The 1 eyed clown fish i got from marchinband is getting better after starving I imagine due to the aggressiveness of the tank mates at feeding time. I put him in the tank with the convict blenny and feed him pellets 1 at a time. You can see his huge handicap right now with out his other 1 eye friend he had. I have to feed to the one side or he will miss the food. All other fish are looking and acting very healthy. The mandarin is still FAT. I have a batch of baby peppermint shrimp in my fuge. So cool to just sit there and watch. They are a little bigger then Copepods right now. They have been there for atleast 2 weeks now since I noticed.
I also picked up a 30g long from DPA w/bulkhead I am debating using this for my new water change setup I want to build or using it as my sump/refuge Right now I have a 20L and I do not like the way it was setup. If anyone would be interested in helping me turn this into a proper useful sump/refuge please let me know. I want to turn my 2 20L tanks to water change setup. I will have both on a shelving system top tank will be fresh SW bottom will be my drain for water changes to make it easier on knowing the exact amount I am extracting and adding. then maybe a 5gallon tank setup with a float for ATO.
I could go on more with this update but how many people will actually read the whole post LOL.
I like to read your whole posts Jeff, lol
First, congrats and best of luck.
On your camera I would try to set WB to 10k and edit with picture editing sw. Let me know if you need a copy of canons DPP sw. Maybe bring your laptop and I will load it for you, very easy to use. Use fastest speed possible, actually scratch that. Just bring camera and we will play with it.
Sorry about SPS, when you ready I will give you bunch of frags. Good luck with clams, awesome. Keep feeding little phyto. if you still doing it, little bit of phyto will go a long way to keep clams healthy.
About baby peppermint shrimps, really need. GolfC
I will have to take you up on that offer one of these days and see what settings we can manage on my camera. I checked my settings and there is many options but on the manual set for WB I can’t adjust it only set it. It has been bugging me to the point of debating selling the camera on Ebay or somewhere and buy a Canon EOS SLR type camera. I like the fact of being able to take raw files and adjust them like you showed me on yours.
As for the tank I have not been feeding the live phyto like I should I slacked on it a bit. The bottle also expired July 15th. I would like to get a smaller bottle of it again. I should have the skimmer up and running again tomorrow, it had a leak at the flange and tube I setup for the water outlet so a bit more silicone and looks good to use again.
I was excited when I saw the babies in the fuge. I bought 3 peppermint shrimp from DPA and 1 was carrying babies. I did some research on them and found out that they are a pain to get going but as I still see so many at this stage I might get lucky and have a good bit of them survive. I am just glad to see something in my tank has babies. I still get these egg sacks in my main tank and have yet to figure out who is laying them. Ill try and get a picture of them and show you when I manage to make it up your way.
[quote=“reefman66, post:66, topic:4088”]
Jeff, why is the clam on the sand bed laying on it side. You don’t keep it right side up for the light exposure?
Great looking tank by the way. Came a long way from the last pics you posted.[/quote]
It moved. I stand it straight up and it tends to go on its side. I was thinking of putting it up higher but letting it acclimate to my lighting first since DPA setup is not quite as intense. Its feet were attached to a piece of gravel from their tank.
[quote=“saltcreep, post:67, topic:4088”]
Congrats on the up-n-coming wedding! ::hitsthefan:: ::
tank looks great![/quote]
Thank you. We are pretty excited. We are doing everything at the Farmhouse off of Telegraph road. Then road trip up north to the Niagra falls, Erie, Maine, Canada as final destination
Good Tank! Its coming right along. in time all the corals fill in the gaps, and then the rock disappears. At that point you do one quart water changes and start fragging like crazy to thin it out for breathing room. Enjoy the ride to that point.
Thanks Ken. I am enjoying the ride for the most part now that my system seems to have balanced out well and everything is right where I want it.
Tonight the Maxima clam has expired. I do not know why as of right now. chemistry is good and I was feeding Marine Snow since I have seen and have been recommended to try it. I did the acclimation just as told so I don’t know. Maybe next time I will just go to Dr. Macs and buy a 4-6" Maxima. I really like the tear drop and the ultra’s.
Thanks Bill. It is coming along. I really have to get rid of these thick devils hand pieces out haha it is branching off so much and some behind the rocks where I can’t see them.
So the little babies in the fuge I believe are peppermint shrimp turns out I have what appears to be hundreds to thousands of those little babies and they are swimming all over the bottom and through the algae’s I have. This should be exciting to see how many make it to adulthood.
Here’s a update. The babies are not peppermint shrimp but probably adult copepods.
The tank has been doing really well lately I have not had any real problems with anything dying mysteriously but I have lost a couple things from being toppled into the sand bed and a snail that killed my first gold maxima clam. Since the last update I have added a purple maxima, gold maxima, derasa, superman mushrooms I got from hondacbr600rr and a 2 head hammer torch from reefer. I re arranged a few things to make room for the clams in a tupperware container on the bottom.
I also am trying to experiment with locations for my mp20 and korolia 1400 powerheads. I still do not have the locations right. I moved the mp20 to the left side of the tank and the water flow is not reaching the sps on the left back corner. Now the left side is getting very good flow but right side is not. I had to put a nano pump facing the sps. If you guys have any tips on better placement or ideas I am open for suggestions.
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and a snail that killed my first gold maxima clam. Since the last update I have added a purple maxima, gold maxima, derasa, superman mushrooms I got from hondacbr600rr and a 2 head hammer torch from reefer. I re arranged a few things to make room for the clams in a tupperware container on the bottom.
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