Lots of pictures of the display (60g) and refugium (20L).

[Amphiprion]

Something that helps is to make a box around the powerhead intake. This is most easily accomplished with something like plastic canvas (for knitting and such) and either nylon fishing line or small cable/zip ties. The trick is to increase the overall surface area exposed to suction to reduce the force exerted. This helps not only with the suction (and subsequent clogging), but from restricting the intake flow to your powerheads.

In the future, do not attempt to manually push the anemone out of the powerhead strainer, since that will often cause more damage. They will eventually extract themselves completely if left alone. Damage to the foot or column is a concern, but if it is slight and the animal is in good health to begin with, chances of recovery are good. Injury to the tentacles is almost of no concern at all, since they are quickly and easily regenerated.

 

[Khemul]

The green-tip recovered pretty nicely. Stubborn little thing. It moved back to the same exact spot it was trying to get into when the powerhead picked it up. :screwy: Looks like it stuck its foot into a crevice in the rock. It looks like it is facing the glass, with the tentacles sticking out just enough from the rockwork to get some light.

The purple-tip has shifted around slightly but no more then a couple inches in either direction. Looks like it finely settled in and stuck itself between the sand and rock. This was is more angled at a 45 degree angle upwards. Guess it seems like it doesn't really matter what direction the foot is facing with these things since the tentacles can just turn upwards to compensate.

Think this is gonna be an oddball tank. Above, an Engineer Goby that has decided to make his den in the top of the rockwork. Rather then burrow into the sand he is using the natural caves and tunnels formed between rocks. First few times I kept thinking he was dead, since I'd see a limp tail hanging out of the rocks. Seems to have gotten his directions figured out though and now sticks his head out instead (probably goes by direction food appears from :rofl.

Random pictures. The blenny kept posing so figured I couldn't pass up the picture opportunity. Moved his room about half a foot closer to the middle of the tank since he kept spitting sand on the anemone when they were inches apart. Wasn't worried about the anemone so much as him and the Eibli don't seem to have much fear of the things. They won't swim into it but they do swim right by it without worry (the other fish keep a rather safe distance).

Then again maybe they aren't as bothered by anemones. The Starry Blenny is practically hosted by my Frogspawn. He avoids the top, but will perch right under it and brush against the tentacles without worry. (picture was taken in the morning, so Frogspawn hadn't fully opened back up yet)



The tank is still running a little low on flow but that should change tonight. Giving the green-tip extra time to settle in, but it ate last night so I think it is about as safe as it can be to turn on a powerhead in that area again. I decided to turn the 1200 back into a normal powerhead. It is 1/4 the power, but it isn't a complete loss. The 150gph powerhead I had pulling gases out of my pvc drain lines wasn't doing the job. I didn't lose siphon but it didn't pop out a bubble every so often like the 1200 did. So I put the 1200 (in powerhead mode) back to work doing maintenance on the drain line. Already see the difference in the occasional bubble moving slowly through the hose. I bought a new Maxi-Jet 600 Pro to replace it. Will put it towards the top (same height as the other 600) and have it pushing water towards the drain lines. Hopefully that one shouldn't be powerful enough to pick up an anemone.


Question on corals. Frogspawns. As far as I understood it they were like Duncans and mushrooms in that if you dropped food on them they'd grab it and eat it. Anything I drop on this one (mysis, flakes, pellets, krill, pieces of prawn) gets grabbed, but instead of carrying it towards the mouth it seems to carry it away from the mouth and then lets it go. I'm not entirely worried about its health. It isn't growing new heads, but when it opens it is pretty big and has grown a bit since I got it so I figure it is just a matter of time. But do they need to be fed?

Also I've moved my Duncan down to the refugium to see if I can get it more social. It seems healthy but I never ever see it fully extend. It seems to only care for an hour or so of partial extension every 2 or 3 days. The rest of the time it is just the tips bunched up around the opening in the skeleton. It looks good when it opens but growth is extremely slow. Even when I give it food, it grabs a piece or two then closes up tight. Not sure if it is the fish in the tank or maybe too much flow in the areas I keep it (the anemones took over the low flow areas so it may be in trouble if it wants those). I remember when I first got it the only place I saw it ever fully extend was in the refugium so gonna try there for a while. Any tips on them? I've heard information anywhere from "they'll adapt to any flow" to "they hate flow and won't open unless there is very little of it".

 

[greech]

My FS isn't an aggressive eater either but I have had it since the beginning and cut it several times. My torch corals take food a little more aggressively but not nearly as quick as my duncan. My duncan and denrdo have the quickest feeding response of all my corals. Favias are quick at night when their feeders are out but painfully slow during the day.

Sounds like your duncan is in too much flow. They really don't like direct flow of any kind.

 

[Belltrain]

I love your blennys, what kind of angel is that?

 

[Khemul]

There are two. The orange colored one is a Rusty Angel. The grey colored one is a Eibli Angel (it has rather dull stripes for its breed so it looks more like a Half-Black from far away).

 

[Khemul]

BTW, got some leads on the weird yellow gel things. Pulled a couple more out. Still haven't found anything that gives a perfect ID but have narrowed it down to possibly being eggs of some type.

Eggs of what I have no idea still. Ruled out Nerite, Nassarius, Conch, Whelk. There are a couple individual wild snails in there that I have no ID on, but nothing that should be able to produce 4 large egg cases over the course of a few weeks.

Maybe I'll let the next group sit for a while and see what becomes of it and just hope whatever they are doesn't overrun the refugium. Assuming they can even survive after hatching.

 

[Khemul]

Minor update;

The green-tip Condy is just about back to normal. The way it set itself up it is definitely going to look weird until it grows out more. It wedged itself into a big crevice between a couple rocks. It seems to have enough room, but if it inflates all the way then it have to adapt to the shape of the rocks. But not much I can do since forcing it out would do more damage then leaving it, and it seems to be fine with the spot.

The purple-tip gave me a bit of a scare. It suddenly started shrinking back all the way the other day. Then started moving a little bit from side to side. Was a bit worried that there was something wrong with the water or some type of chemical warfare going on. Last night it moved enough to where I could see into the cave it had dug out for its foot and discovered the cause of all the irritation. He set up home right on top of the Oyster Drill (had been wondering where that thing disappeared to). It was busy munching on that mystery bi-valve that was on the glass a while back but somehow seemed to be irritating the nem. Once I removed the snail from the anemone's foot the Condy really perked up and returned to its normal sea-of-tentacles self. Was a bit funny when we discovered it.

The Gurnard has regrown the front half of its wings and now seems to be getting the back half (the colorful part) back. It is such an active eater now that it attacks the turkey baster whenever it see it. Gonna let it put on a bit more size before it goes in the main tank, but it should definitely do fine feeding. Think it just needs size now to get around the extreme timidness of the breed (which seems completely out of character for a predatory fish).

The Frogspawn is acting weird but it is also taking on a very wide, oval shape so hopefully it is just it getting ready to split. From what I hear they get a bit quirky when they are about to split.

Ordered new bulbs for the 3' fixture. Gonna replace the 2 39W 6700K bulbs with 1 ATI Blue Plus and 1 ATI Aquablue Special. Will probably replace the 4' bulbs in a similar pattern but that will have to wait until I feel like spending money on bulbs again. Color-wise they work for now, but they are Current/TrueLumen bulbs. Will do pictures showing the change when the bulbs come in. The extra 6700K does basically turn the whole tank a little too yellow when the fixture is on.

 

[Khemul]

A few updates;

Bad news on the Gurnard. Not sure how it happened, but found it dead last night. Considering the clean-up crew that is living down there, not many clues as to what happened. It was eating and looking very healthy lately so I know it wasn't starvation. I'm pretty sure it wasn't killed by one of the refugium dwellers, since I'd think if anything could take it down then the Engineers wouldn't have survived their two weeks down there. Seems to leave it at either infection from the fin damage (although it didn't show any signs) or some other unknown factor. Is quite a bit discouraging there not having any hints on what caused it. Not sure if I'll try another one if I come across one.


The anemones keep making slight moves each day. Nothing big, like an inch to one side or turning a different way. The green-tip seems to have found a spot it likes slightly better since it hasn't moved again in the last couple days. The purple-tip seems confused since it has been moving more and more into an upside down position (the rock it was against curves into a cave, it climbed the wall...then the roof...then kept shuffling around like it couldn't make sense of its surroundings :headshake2. Finally went ahead and moved it my self to a spot similar to where the green-tip settled in. They seem to want to be in the sand, but surrounded by rocks.


Coral pictures;

The Duncan seems to like its new home. I consider the spot borderline on being a dead-spot. It seems to consider the spot a great home.

The Frogspawn and his Starry Blenny friend. The Frogspawn is stretching and definitely looks like it'll branch/split soon. Looking like it'll be one branch continuing upwards (same as it is now) and another heading outwards toward the glass.

The Kenya Tree is looking good. Almost considering fragging it to spread it out more, but I hear it'll do this naturally if I just let it grow more.

The main Green Ricordea has gotten rather big. It has a healthy appetite now too.

The smaller green Ricordea. It has multiple mouths but doesn't seem interested in splitting. It is growing rather nicely though. Not much of an appetite on this one yet.

The multiple-color Ricordea, or what is left of it. It is growing back nicely though.

Couldn't get much of a picture of the orange/green Ricordea. It comes out as a picture of a rock, since it is a similar color to the rock it is on.

The Umbrella Mushroom. Slow growing but seems to have recovered nicely.

The refugium Xenia. Figure I'll let it get nice and big, then try it again in the main tank. It grows back so fast that I think a large group of it will survive even if the angels pick off polyps. Consider it population control. :evil_lol:

And just because it was there when I was taking pictures...a random refugium dweller.


Got the new bulbs yesterday. Can't tell difference yet since my fixture doesn't like them. It likes the AquaBlue but not the Blue Plus. Turns on for a second, flickers, then turns off if I put the Blue Plus in there. Gonna see if I can get an answer other then "the bulb is bad" from Current (the fixture does the same thing if I put in 2 actinic bulbs, so it may be something with the fixture) before sending the Blue Plus bulb back. Otherwise might have to send back the Blue Plus and use another AquaBlue instead. The AquaBlue / 6700K combo definitely reduced the yellow light in the tank quite a bit.


Seem to be having some trouble with flow in the tank at the moment. The two circulation pumps push 700gph each across the length of the tank (60"). A single powerhead pushes 300gph (probably less) behind the rockwork. The return pump should be pushing in the 250-300 range. Seems like it'd be good flow for the tank, but the corals all seem happier in shielded areas where there isn't a lot of flow. Granted I do have a bunch of low-flow corals, but even the Zoas and Button Polyps started closing up a lot more when I moved the second circulation pump to blow across the top of the tank. Thinking maybe this is where having a thin tank is really effecting things. Debating rescaping the tank to try lowering the rock wall. The problem there is that I like the layout now, but it seems like it won't support much in the way of coral until I upgrade to a wider tank. If I do rescape then I'll probably have to remove some rock.

 

[greech]

Sorry about the Gurnard .

Corals look like they are doing better. Amazing how they are bouncing back. The Blue+ is weird. Can't figure out why they wouldn't fire. I love my Blue+ bulbs. Definitely worth trying to figure out why before returning the bulbs. What kind of fixture do you have? My Current fixture has no issues with ATI bulbs.

 

[Khemul]

Its a 36" 2-bulb Nova Extreme. Definitely weird. It doesn't seem to be a problem with ATI bulbs themselves, since the AquaBlue Special works fine. It is something about bulbs in the actinic range. Any combination of regular bulbs seems to work fine. A single actinic works fine when combined with the other working bulbs. Two actinic, fixture fails to start. One Blue Plus combined with any of the regular bulbs or AquaBlue Special, fixture fails to start.

I sent a support question in to Current, but I suspect they're likely to come back with "bad bulb" as a response. Hell, it may even be a bad bulb in this case but unfortunately I'm not sure I can test that. Maybe next time I go to one of the LFS's I'll ask them if they have a spare fixture they can test it in.

My first thought on it is 'overload'. It is how I see electronics behave when they don't have enough power to survive startup. But as far as I understand lighting, 39w is 39w. Quality can be improved but power usage shoulnt, so that would rule out that first thought. Maybe I am wrong there though, electronics are my thing for troubleshooting, not electrical issues. Electrical issues I like to avoid toying with, electronics won't kill me if I'm wrong :rofl: