Dary's tank!

[Dary421]

I don't have any hairy mushrooms, mine are all smooth. I have never seen them eat anything, but there are so many, it's possible.

They will burn SPS corals if they touch them, but don't seem to harm any of my other softies. My best guess with my Kenya tree is that my huge colony of waving hand coral is poisoning it. Did a water change last night but no improvements. Might change the carbon out again tonight.

Changing out the carbon would be my first choice of action also but the whole situation seems a little strange to me...once I get this whole tank setup and transferred and running I'm going to get myself a hairy mushroom colony going and then maybe I can tell you if they are killers or not .... Just seems that after all this time a couple of large corals just up and croak ,... I just can't see the mushrooms being involved.... But like everyone else here,...I don't really really know anything about them,..I just grow em.

 

[Gregcoyote]

There are many things happening here that are unseen, or cannot easily be tested for. I have always been interested in why a soft coral, like colt or kenya tree, can grow like a weed for years, then totally collapse in 48 hours with no sign of water quality or stress problems (that I can see). I must hit a trigger point some how and that's all she wrote. Good news about stoney corals is that they seem to be more "consistent."

 

[Dary421]

There are many things happening here that are unseen, or cannot easily be tested for. I have always been interested in why a soft coral, like colt or kenya tree, can grow like a weed for years, then totally collapse in 48 hours with no sign of water quality or stress problems (that I can see). I must hit a trigger point some how and that's all she wrote. Good news about stoney corals is that they seem to be more "consistent."

Greg..., a little while back my Kenya tree collapsed like yours and I thought it was dead than suddenly after a few days of looking dead it suddenly perked up and it looks better than ever,.... Why ? Who the heck knows.....it's now 3x the size it was.... Maybe it's just something they do ???

 

[Gregcoyote]

They do squeeze out like other leathers, I have also seen that many times, but sometimes the squeeze goes onto melting, at which point they become very toxic and have to go, quickly.

 

[Dary421]

Wow..today was my chosen day to do the tank swap over.., first thing this morning I drained about 20 gals of water from my 75 gal tank into a large 54 gal rubbermaid tub., to this I added any loose corals I could easily detach and put them into the tub... Slowly I started taking out the larger rocks and after a dip into fresh saltwater To to remove any loose sediment i added them into my 135 gal setup... It was a long slow and very wet process..., I acclimated the fish along with the loose coral in the tub by slowly adding water from the 135 gal tank., this took a couple of hours or so.
Everything seems to have survived the transfer in good shape so far.. Some of the corals took an hour or two to finally open up to their new world.
The fish seem to really enjoy the extra two 1400 gph powerheads I attached to a accela wave, water pulser.( along with a 1100 and a 750 gph powerhead also)
With a single two inch center overflow and a mag 12 return pump pushing the water back into the tank via four nozzles I don't think lack of water flow is going to be an issue.
So far everything been running for the last few hours and so far all systems look good.
I guess tomorrow I start cleaning up the 75 gal tank and the mess I made doing the swap over.., a well deserved beer or two were consumed during the swap over for medicinal purposes only.
We'll see in the up coming days how everything acclimates to the new system but for me. ., I'm kinda proud of what I accomplished.., kinda like I just went from AAA to the major leagues .

 

[rdnelson99]

Looking good. Man, that was a lot of work but I am sure very satisfying. Hope everything "Acclimates" well. Here is a little hint of the acclimation. That "Medication" you used for "Medicinal" purposes.....put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes before opening. Works much better that way.

 

[Dary421]

Looking good. Man, that was a lot of work but I am sure very satisfying. Hope everything "Acclimates" well. Here is a little hint of the acclimation. That "Medication" you used for "Medicinal" purposes.....put it in the freezer for about 5 minutes before opening. Works much better that way.

Lol..thanks doc for the acclimation tip....I'll try that today when I start cleaning up the other tank. :- )

 

[rdnelson99]

Sure wish I could give you some instructions in person. I am very good at it. LOL Seriously, the tank looks great.

 

[barterking85]

Wow Dary looks great man rock work is amazing can't say enough bet your glad to be done?

 

[rdnelson99]

Hey Ryan, I love my signature line but if I could, I would steal yours.

 

[ShadoeFox]

I have a room mate who's a certified diver who learned in hawai'i. Gonna have to kick him when I get home, due to these pictures.

Weird fact, he doesn't get why I want aquariums. (Shrugs)

 

[rdnelson99]

I have a room mate who is "Certified" too. I call her my wife. LOL

 

[Dary421]

Wow Dary looks great man rock work is amazing can't say enough bet your glad to be done?

Thanks Ryan., it was sure nice to get the135 up and running BEFORE the transfer ., but it sure made for a long day !! Happy to say everything doing great., cleaning up the mess today and removing the 75 gal tank ... I took a couple of pictures this morning before the blue LEDs came on., for some reason the blue leds look wonderful in person but make your photos suck.. Hope these help :--/

 

[rdnelson99]

Man, that looks fantastic.

 

[Ricksreef]

Like your rock work.Do you think you will have to get one more light fixture,or is it just the pictures that show a gap in light density in the middle?

 

[Dary421]

Like your rock work.Do you think you will have to get one more light fixture,or is it just the pictures that show a gap in light density in the middle?

Nah there's a gap for sure BUT before I get another fixture I'm going wait and see what happens coral growth wise ., might be a nice place for a fancy mushroom colony or two ... If not than I'll get another led fixture down the road..., the tank looks a lot better in person than the pictures show

 

[Gregcoyote]

How has coral growth been? My soft and LPS corals have grown like wildfire, mushrooms have finally adapted after almost a year and are now fully inflated, LPS growing, montiporia and several chalice corals are growing great but my acroporia and stag horn isn't growing very fast. But then they are painfully slow growers and the presence of the softies doesn't help. Thinking about a more powerful 330 watt main fixture this winter.

 

[Dary421]

How has coral growth been? My soft and LPS corals have grown like wildfire, mushrooms have finally adapted after almost a year and are now fully inflated, LPS growing, montiporia and several chalice corals are growing great but my acroporia and stag horn isn't growing very fast. But then they are painfully slow growers and the presence of the softies doesn't help. Thinking about a more powerful 330 watt main fixture this winter.

hey greg,...well right now due to my big tank transfer the coral world has to readjust a little bit,...some of my softies,leathers have grown alot since i bought the led's,...the mushroom community has been good and bad,...some are doing amazingly well while other little groups hve shrunken considerably,...the few hard corals that i have seemed to have grown very well also,...im not too worried though,...now that ive got my new tank up and running its time to once again buy some more corals,mushrooms etc,....tank looks a little barren since the switch over,...loits more space.
maybe ill go check on that "vampire girl" hairy lavender mushroom rock colony that i was watching a while ago...i feel a shopping spree coming up.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I am making a weekly trip to the LFS with my bag full of coral frags to sell or trade, so I guess I won't gripe about anything!

 

[Dary421]

I am making a weekly trip to the LFS with my bag full of coral frags to sell or trade, so I guess I won't gripe about anything!

Nice.!!.... I just visited my " other" Lfs and bought a small/medium sized torch Coral , a small/ medium green hammer coral ( my resident hammer coral has probably grown 10 x the size since I introduced it.. I guess I must be doing something right ! ) AND I bought the long awaited " vampire girl" hairy lavender mushroom colony that I've been looking at for the last 4-5 months!!! ... I only hope that she unfolds like it looked like at the Lfs...I may have to jostle it around alittle bit to find it a place where it wants to be ., but it's a beautiful cluster if I can pull it off right... We'll see.