Tim's 54 Gallon Corner -> Going Reef

[carey]

Please do post some pics of the blasto, I have one as well and would love to see if mine looks like yours. I'm starting to think I have a micromussa....lol

 

[TLTGF]

Pics in a few - had to restart the computer - sick of closing the mcafee update every 10 minutes!

 

[TLTGF]

I couldn't wait for the dust to settle, so forgive the crappy pics...

 

[TLTGF]

And some more...

 

[carey]

Beautiful shots! I think I do have a micromussa, yours is has such a much larger head size than mine does.


Love the shrooms too, great pick ups!

 

[TLTGF]

Thanks - the water is much clearer now - plus using an iPhone sometimes just doesn't cut it - I'd use my good camera - but the batteries died last night.

On another NEGATIVE note - I was excited to see my royal gramma come out when I added some mysis just now... Sad thing was, the lack of PH flow pushed him out from behind the rock he was hiding, and also the crabs were feasting on his body - I just pulled out 40% of his body.

So now I've lost a Flame and a gramma within (1) week!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The sixline, chromis, and goby look phenomenal - swimming all day - eating good, no weird spots or actions...

I'm at a loss. Maybe I'll still with a fishless tank.

I know that deaths happen, but come on.

 

[TLTGF]

I hope Dary is proud of my shrooms, lol.

 

[slitherbomb]

What's that in the third pic? A brain coral?

 

[rob_mango]

Corals look good and don't be down on ur self to hard everyone has a string of bad Luck just keep at and ur tank will look amazing

 

[TLTGF]

SB - Yup it's a Favites Brain coral.

Rob - thanks for the affirmation - I have no doubt that pressing on is the best thing, and you are correct - the more I love this hobby, the better my tank will thrive.

 

[slitherbomb]

Dude that's awesome! I really want one.

 

[TLTGF]

You should see it under the blue LED's or just the actinics - pretty wicked.

I'll tell ya, I think I did good - I got everything in the pics - (other than the single purple ric, and the hammer) for around $140.

 

[slitherbomb]

Oh wow. My lfs has 20% off everything saltwater Monday's and Thursday's so I try to go those days LOL

 

[TLTGF]

CRAZY UPDATE:

My corals are thriving and the tank is looking spectacular - I absolutely love between 9p and 2a when everything glows.

On the crazy part, I have a Blue / Green Chromis that started acting strange - fast breathing etc, but no other signs (about a week ago). I was concerned but no way I could catch it.

Over the last week I've noticed that it's getting fat. I was thinking I was overfeeding, but wasn't sure why only one is fat.

I just went and saw her again and she has a little orange spot on the bottom mid-back portion of her body. I'm not 100%, but I'm almost positive she is PREGNANT! LOL

 

[rob_mango]

Wow that is so cool if she is

 

[cabezon]

Did you check your water? Specificaly Ph. You had a temp swing. With all the turbulence you may have had a Ph swing as well.

Did you cycle this tank? What kind of sand are you using?

 

[TLTGF]

Cabezon,

Let me start by saying that I bought this set-up used about 10 weeks ago, I think, and at that point the tank had been setup for (4) years. I moved everything to my apt, and the only fish that came with it were the (4) green chromis.

I did see a very small mini cycle from some LR dieoff at the very beginning, but within literally 3 or 4 days, the parameters were perfect.

As far as sand, I can honestly say that I have no idea, again it came with the tank, and furthmore the previous owners "claimed" that the sand was from a tank that was running for the previous (6) years before that one, and they transferred the sand there.

When I lost my flame, I did test my water and all params were in check.

The only thing left for me to believe at this point is that in betwen adding the PH's and the diamond goby kicking up the sand, the combination caused a release of some bad junk hidden in the sand. The flame and the royal may have just been to fragile to adapt, while the chromis, wrasse, and goby were more hardy and survived the intrusion.

My water parameters still look great, and I'm doing another pwc on Saturday to get trates even lower - they were at 20 before last Saturday's pwc.

Thanks for the input.

Oh and I'm not 100% sure that my Chromis is preggo, she's been hanging out behind the overflow box with her bf. Plus ther belly is getting even bigger, about twice the size of the others, and her orange spot is very noticable. I've been trying to capture a pic, but to no avail at this point.

 

[TLTGF]

So, as I'm reading Carey's threads I am wondering to myself about my own lighting. I bought my tank used and they said it was running for (4) years, but never mentioned how old the lights were.

Now I'm curious about replacing the bulbs.

If I do, Drs.F&S got the ATI Blue Plus and Specials on sale.

What do y'all think? Should I go ahead and replace them to be on the safe side? The corals that I have now don't seem to be complaining.

Any thoughts?

 

[carey]

I;m in the same boat. I know the bulbs on the 125g are a year old but my corals seem to be doing very well. Alot of people said to wait til they start to blow out to replace but I;m very tempted to just get new bulbs anyways to be on the safe side. But that'll run me over $200.

Aquacave and bulk reef supply have the ATI's as well, and pretty darn cheap too.

 

[TLTGF]

Yup, I meant aquacave lol, don't know what I was thinking - I can do $60 to replace all my bulbs... That's why its so tough.