280G+ Starphire In-Wall Build by ReefArtist

[ReefArtist]

Hey Chris - Oh I just have a few little sticks. One thing is for sure I'll always have lots of LPS/softies . I guess what I was saying is I couldn't go SPS only. I love the Zoas, Sinularia, Gonoporia etc to ever give them up .

 

[FishTruck]

Awesome pics Reef Artist, keep them coming! What a great batch of fish. How does that blue flasher behave? Does he swim in and out of rocks and hunt all day like most other wrasses?

Ryan.

 

[ReefArtist]

Je®vis - Thank you !

FishTruck - Thank you, I wasn't sure if you reefers were interested in seeing my fish photos, looks like I have a couple of votes so I need to post a few more .

The Blue Flasher is great and has not bothered anyone. At first the Cirrhilabrus lubbocki (Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse) was the one harassing the others including the blue flasher. He at the time was the largest fish in the tank (phase one â€"œ 65g). Once I added the fish from the 75g with the alpha wrasse, his mate and the half mimic tang â€"œ he settled right down. The Blue Flasher has not harassed anyone â€"œ except himself looking on the side of the tank (he really does love himself â€"œLOL). I must add these fish were chosen for their calm demeanor. It took use months of research to come up with the group I now have. I must thank John and Jennifer at FAOIS for helping me with this â€"œ you have lots of patience .

The one true deviation was the addition of the Ventralis anthias (Longfin Anthias) mated pair. I had read about them and loved their colors but was concerned with their requirements. They are from very deep waters so lighting is an issue, they need a very large tank, any aggressive fish would be very stressful as they are very shy and their feeding is very demanding (3 to 5 times per day). They need lots of caves and water temperature is an issue. These fish are not for everyone â€"œ very challenging! I fed them directly for the first few days to ensure they were eating properly. I’ve changed my lighting schedule so the actinic lights are on alone longer in the AM and PM. The male is now out almost all day and eats with everyone. The female is much smaller and it has taken me a few days to get her to come out and eat (I still feed her at times individually). She eats well and has gained a little weight but she likes to wait until after everyone is finished before she starts looking for food and comes out of her cave. After that she is out for most of the evening now.

Sorry FishTruck â€"œ I kind of got off on a tangent .

 

[TandN]

how do you like your SSB ?

 

[TandN]

How do you like the SSB ?

 

[chrismhaase]

I gotta ya, well at least you have a "few colored sticks" as my wife call them. Tank is looking awesome.

 

[ReefArtist]

tanya72806 - well it's really hard to tell at this point. I'm going through the normal aging process (Diatoms, red slime, I hope some green stuff for my Veggie eaters soon). I've tried to compensate by having a RDSB and a grasses tank along with the typical refugium. I think in the next 4 to 8 months will really tell the store. So far all is good with the nitrates but I do have some hard to feed fish and corals - we shall see. I do have some other plans to fight nitrates and phosphates - if needed I'll have to bring them out.

Chris - Thank you .

 

[mnml]

luv the red spotted blenny.

 

[TandN]

lol i hear ya I have the same toys that your talking about i believe. I am debating BB like I have had for the last 7-8 years or SSB

 

[ReefArtist]

Thin crust - he is great, I'm very happy with him. He thinks he's the tank boss but as you watch him - his a big baby LOL.

tanya72806 - My biggest problem with BB is with the livestock. I have 6 wrasses that bury themselves. I also have lots of gobies that dig in the sand and are the most happy in their natural environment. I know you can put containers in with sand for them but I just live the sand look. Don't get me wrong I don't have a problem with BB just when someone has the Yellow Wrasses and not provide them with sand - that is sad.

 

[TandN]

I agree 100% with you. I think ill have a 2" SB in the tank

 

[zotzer]

What a wonderful build! I spent the past hour scanning the entire thing.

And I love your taste in blennies! My "Spot" is probably my favorite fish....what a ham he is!!

Tracy

 

[ReefArtist]

tanya72806 - . I really feel a lot of reefers forget the big picture when weighing BB verses Sand. This is JMO but just because the coral or fish is still alive and living without sand when it's their natural environment does not mean they are at their best. I could go on and on about this but I'll just leave it at that, I just like to give my livestock what is natural to them (at least as much as I possibly can). Trust me I've failed miserably in my caring for my reef livestock, things happen it's just when it does I try not to make that same mistake.

Tracy - Oh I love your avatar, what a great photo. They are wonderful and great algae control I must add.

 

[ReefArtist]

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated lately but I've been very busy with some art deliveries/projects and I acquired a tank full of beautiful corals. A friend of mine and I decided to purchase corals from one of our very best local reefers. The local reefer was selling all his corals and livestock; they are now in my 75g QT â€"œ 29g QT/Treatment tanks. My friend and I will split the corals after treatment; we both have new large tanks. Only the SPS corals are located in the 75G and all the softies, fish and inverts are in a 29G QT.

They have been in the tanks for 7 days and are looking excellent and we believe they are ready to start red bug treatments. I will start this today on the SPS 75g tank. Just a note - Now that I have all my corals from the old 75g and 65g in the 280g everything that is placed in the 280g will be treated for red bugs and flat worms. I will also clean and watch all Montipora's for nudibranches.

These are very bad photos but I think most will understand why my friend and I are sooooo excited about these lovely corals.

The photos were taken under very dark conditions - not the best lighting at the time - please forgive .

Tanks shots of 75G - day one:

Left side of tank. Note the purple rim monti - about 9-10 inches across.

Right side of tank. Green monti on top of rock with lots of other corals.

Left Center of tank. Note the confusa, purple efflo that is about 8-9 inches across. In the back is part of a green slimer - there are about 3 other pieces about the same size.

I love the millipora and purple monti. Very bad color but there is a small pink milli - very nice.

Purple Efflo - this is a beautiful coral.

 

[ReefArtist]

Green slimer

Blue tip

Confusa

This shows the 2 efflos, and the purple rim - these three take up most of the bottom of the 75g - but that's OK .

Bad photos of the softies qt tank. Note the pink Scolymia here it was mainly closed, I placed it into the Infinity tank and it opened to about 7 to 8 inches across - this is beautiful!

 

[ReefArtist]

A few brains, candy canes, zoas etc.

More zoas, Favia, candy canes, lobo etc.

One of two clams - these have beautiful colors!

Sorry for the bad photos and once they get treated and are in a better location I'll have much better photos.

 

[rjohnsen]

Sweet

 

[NONNA58]

Carol,
not to get off track, the coral are great, but, how did it go when you transferred your fish? Did you use a net for the most part or a trap? Specifically the foxface which is my concern since I have one that I need to transfer.
Sue

 

[ReefArtist]

Hello Sue,
I used a net on all of them and for the most part it was fairly easy - except for the Yellow male and female wrasse. They hide under the sand and I didn't see where they went in - needed to take all the sand out . The foxface is new, got him from FAOIS so can't help there. Mine would be somewhat easy, he likes his Nori so I'd just put that out with a net in my other hand - slowly cover him with it. That's the way our Tang is - stomach gets him every time! Good luck and just make sure you have a large net .

Anyone else have some advice for Sue?

 

[mflamb]

If he is an agressive eater, use a fish trap.