Looking good. I see some cyano, but it doesn't look too awful. If the temp doesn't go above 85, you should be fine. Why no fans?
Newbie 30 gal. journal...
- Thread starter joe schmoe
- Start date
I REALLY like how your tank is starting to look, but I can't not comment on the amount of fish - wow, that's a lot for a 30 gallon!! do you intend to upgrade tank size soon to sustain them? the flame especially is going to need more elbow room soon.
Sorry, I didn't realize there was a 2nd page. Fans would produce too much noise. This is in my living room/home theater room so that would be a killer for movies. Not to mention the lighting.
Anyhow, some interesting developments. I picked up my first SPS corals. Just some simple Acropora. They've been doing just fine. One came with a hitchiking Mithrax crab as an extra bonus. I'm not a fan of the epoxy putty I picked up for securing the corals to the base rock. It turns white and it's not very sticky under water. Bleh.
Next, I picked up another Acropora (yongi?) and a Purple encrusting Montipora rock. One section of the Montipora is purple, one is green, and a portion is a different type of coral. It too came with a hitchiking Mithrax crab (smaller), and some small filter feeding worms (not fan worms. They have a very thin hand-like appendage that has a kind of scooping-in action to it). Something else is living in there to. It's kinda like a stationary snail imbedded into the coral...topped off by a flat cap/hat.
I caught the little Brain coral parasitic crabs out in the open and got some pics to be posted later. The Catalina Goby finally couldn't stand the 85+ degree temps and kicked the bucket. Now that I think about it, my Bimaculatus blenny is gone too. I think internal worms got the best of it. After arriving severly emaciated, it had a highly swollen stomach almost constantly. I liked that one
.
As for temps, it turns out the solution was a new halide bulb. The earlier drama with my lights resulted in my ending up with an Ushio 10K bulb. I had asked for an XM, but didn't want to deal with the hassle of a return. I decided to pick up an XM 20K bulb because of the dull coloration give by the 10K Ushio. A great unexpected benefit is that the XM bulb runs MUCH MUCH cooler. As I type this, after 5.5 hours of 250W halide lighting plus 6 hours overlapping 150W actinic VHO lighting, the temps are up to 81.5 degrees. From a starting point of 79. I keep the living room at about 75 degrees. Of course, all of the corals and zoanthids show much more color, and some seem to have responded with additional growth.
I also ordered a bunch of chaetomorpha algae for the refugium. Now that it is settled in a taken hold, it has outcompeted the red slime...leaving it 95% eliminated. Whatever is encrusting the dying shaving brush plant has restrengthened. I think it's a coral. It's got what look to be barrel-shaped polyps. They move when something touches them. They are red and orange. Gotta be a coral...I guess.
Lastly, I'm surrounding the Xenia with stinging corals to keep it under control. I'll post up some pics this weekend maybe.
Anyhow, some interesting developments. I picked up my first SPS corals. Just some simple Acropora. They've been doing just fine. One came with a hitchiking Mithrax crab as an extra bonus. I'm not a fan of the epoxy putty I picked up for securing the corals to the base rock. It turns white and it's not very sticky under water. Bleh.
Next, I picked up another Acropora (yongi?) and a Purple encrusting Montipora rock. One section of the Montipora is purple, one is green, and a portion is a different type of coral. It too came with a hitchiking Mithrax crab (smaller), and some small filter feeding worms (not fan worms. They have a very thin hand-like appendage that has a kind of scooping-in action to it). Something else is living in there to. It's kinda like a stationary snail imbedded into the coral...topped off by a flat cap/hat.
I caught the little Brain coral parasitic crabs out in the open and got some pics to be posted later. The Catalina Goby finally couldn't stand the 85+ degree temps and kicked the bucket. Now that I think about it, my Bimaculatus blenny is gone too. I think internal worms got the best of it. After arriving severly emaciated, it had a highly swollen stomach almost constantly. I liked that one
.As for temps, it turns out the solution was a new halide bulb. The earlier drama with my lights resulted in my ending up with an Ushio 10K bulb. I had asked for an XM, but didn't want to deal with the hassle of a return. I decided to pick up an XM 20K bulb because of the dull coloration give by the 10K Ushio. A great unexpected benefit is that the XM bulb runs MUCH MUCH cooler. As I type this, after 5.5 hours of 250W halide lighting plus 6 hours overlapping 150W actinic VHO lighting, the temps are up to 81.5 degrees. From a starting point of 79. I keep the living room at about 75 degrees. Of course, all of the corals and zoanthids show much more color, and some seem to have responded with additional growth.
I also ordered a bunch of chaetomorpha algae for the refugium. Now that it is settled in a taken hold, it has outcompeted the red slime...leaving it 95% eliminated. Whatever is encrusting the dying shaving brush plant has restrengthened. I think it's a coral. It's got what look to be barrel-shaped polyps. They move when something touches them. They are red and orange. Gotta be a coral...I guess.
Lastly, I'm surrounding the Xenia with stinging corals to keep it under control. I'll post up some pics this weekend maybe.
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Got some stuff from Foster and Smith yesterday, so time for pics.
Before I get to those, just a couple notes. I found out this evening that I've been WAY overdosing Iodine. I misread the directions and have been dosing daily, rather than weekly as the instructions state. Geez I'm a moron.
Hermits keep showing up dead, and one of the Mithrax hitchikers showed up dead too....inverts. Perhaps that's why. And GONE is that POS skimmer....NEVER to return. EVER.
ALL of the pics can be clicked for full-res versions... (I oversharpened them JUST a tad). These are the first pics with the new 20K light.
Full shot showing the new arrangement and all of the new SPS corals. The two SPS corals sitting on the substrate are only temporarily there until I find a permanent place for them.
Green zoanthids rock with the clams moved to the right and doing well. Yellow zoianthids look the best they ever have. Mushroom rock moved from upper left to middle back. Not sure it will stay there.
New SPS corals far left and upper left - still not permanently attached. Less new SPS at middle and upper right. The new one on the far left came with 3! red crabs. Not sure what species, but they haven't moved out of there. They really packed in there with not much space.
New SPS temporarily on the substrate...
Purple Montipora. The green stuff I believe is Montipora too. Not sure what the rust colored stuff in the middle is. This was the rock that came with the smaller Mithrax crab. It's got some interesting stuff living in it. Filter feeding organisms that pulse their "feathers" out every second or so. There is also the little white dot in the middle of the purple area to the right. It looks like a stationary snail turned upside down. When a fish passes by, it clamps what looks like a snail's foot down. Like Oscar the Grouch. When it opens back up, it has two antennae and a short tubular mouth. It secretes a mucous web around it's home. It leaves it out like a fishing net...waiting for food to get stuck in it. It then "reels" the net in by eating it...taking in whatever food got stuck. Super Fishkeeper of the Year award goes to the person who can identify what it is.
Just a pretty good shot of the zoanthids...
Captured! The tiny little parasitic brain coral crabs. His hole/home is on the far left. His neighbor is at home in his home/hole is just to the left.
Before I get to those, just a couple notes. I found out this evening that I've been WAY overdosing Iodine. I misread the directions and have been dosing daily, rather than weekly as the instructions state. Geez I'm a moron.
Hermits keep showing up dead, and one of the Mithrax hitchikers showed up dead too....inverts. Perhaps that's why. And GONE is that POS skimmer....NEVER to return. EVER.ALL of the pics can be clicked for full-res versions... (I oversharpened them JUST a tad). These are the first pics with the new 20K light.
Full shot showing the new arrangement and all of the new SPS corals. The two SPS corals sitting on the substrate are only temporarily there until I find a permanent place for them.
Green zoanthids rock with the clams moved to the right and doing well. Yellow zoianthids look the best they ever have. Mushroom rock moved from upper left to middle back. Not sure it will stay there.
New SPS corals far left and upper left - still not permanently attached. Less new SPS at middle and upper right. The new one on the far left came with 3! red crabs. Not sure what species, but they haven't moved out of there. They really packed in there with not much space.
New SPS temporarily on the substrate...
Purple Montipora. The green stuff I believe is Montipora too. Not sure what the rust colored stuff in the middle is. This was the rock that came with the smaller Mithrax crab. It's got some interesting stuff living in it. Filter feeding organisms that pulse their "feathers" out every second or so. There is also the little white dot in the middle of the purple area to the right. It looks like a stationary snail turned upside down. When a fish passes by, it clamps what looks like a snail's foot down. Like Oscar the Grouch. When it opens back up, it has two antennae and a short tubular mouth. It secretes a mucous web around it's home. It leaves it out like a fishing net...waiting for food to get stuck in it. It then "reels" the net in by eating it...taking in whatever food got stuck. Super Fishkeeper of the Year award goes to the person who can identify what it is.
Just a pretty good shot of the zoanthids...
Captured! The tiny little parasitic brain coral crabs. His hole/home is on the far left. His neighbor is at home in his home/hole is just to the left.
