45 Galllon Cube. My dream tank...only smaller!

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Im starting to draw some attention now

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Heres a fuge progression. Ive removed the top half of the caulerpa twice and split the ulva in half twice as well to this point. The cheato has not grown at all and I believe ill just remove the rest of it today. Its actually in there, about a baseball in size so if anything its shrunk. No clue why this house doesnt grow cheato. Baffles me as you can see I have no trouble with other macros.

Aug 5th

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Oct 12th

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Look at ALL those pods on the glass! There is a HUGE population of stomatella in there as well as a recent explosion of mysid and sponges. Unfortunately, a few sprigs of red bubble algae have popped up too...ehh better than green I guess. Also note, there is no worm activity at all. The sand is basically void of life for some reason. Thats a problem. Im gonna see if I can find someone locally that has a lot of worms in their fuge. If not, im gonna have to order some online which I hate doing. Any idea why this may be happening?
 
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Hey that's great PE extension any time any day is a good sign according to the lil knowledge I have. It's definitely a good sign. And ur feeding regimen will definately help as long as u keep the unwanted nutrients on check. The SPS are on it way.

The refugium growth is exceptional bro. It's really purifying your tank the natural way. I'm sure the DT tank inhabitants are loving those juicy pods that are stupid enough to move into the Beverly hills real estate aka the display tank :D
That shrimp attack scene geez u replicated a nightmare of mine. Being attacked by some crabzilla or shrimpzilla every time I put my hand in my tank. I'm always weary of some mutated alien organism from the abyss grabbing me and pulling me in.:uhoh3:

About the in wall build ask ur wife permission on your birthday after the party after the beer after everything that's positive has happened after she is in good mood.... Usually works 80% strike rate. But at owners risk don't blame me if she breaks something in our house :D
 
Yeah, no. I have a fantastic wife whom ive been married to 10 years today! She would love to have the tank inwall. Its just that my sons closet would have to be taken, thats just not something all 3 could live with. Our house is only 1400 sq ft without a basement, just attic storage above the garage, so its just not practical to lose a closet even to a worthy cause. Oh well, when he moves to the other bedroom ill start sending chocolates to her at work for a month straight to "sweeten" the deal! Also, from a resale standpoint, a giant tank in a wall isnt something that attracts the masses. Dont know why but im sure itd be daunting to a new homebuyer to entertain the idea of upkeep of a 2 acre property, home AND something they are completly unfamiliar with taking up valuable closet space to boot. IDK, I guess a fish lover just might walk in the door and make a fool outta me! heres hoping...
 
Happy anniversary and great thread....really like the night pics and makes me want a moonlight...and the time to look at my tank at night

Will be taggin along
 
Hey noob, or anyone else, have your shrimp caused lack of PE during the day? Ive had several corals lately that show great PE after the main lights go out and overnight but then as soon as the sun comes up in the morning they retract them. These are corals ive had a long time and have always showed good to great PE all times of the day. I just dont know whats causing this. Its been like this since the lysol incident...I mean my coral beauty picks all day long and occasionally nips at a coral here and there but hes not eating polyps or doing damage. Plus the shrimp skampers all over the place all day long...so I have things that can cause this but other than these 3 corals, no other corals do it. The effected corals are a BN, yellow acro?, and a wild what looks to be a tricolor.
 
Der Abt, really I was against a moonlight plus this one is BRIGHT, but to date its one of the best things about my tank. Its just an amazing color with an unrivaled shimmer effect. Ill be using one in every tank from here on out. I have even considered getting the MLC and light for my reefkeeper just to play with the moon phases. Just something else to keep the interest alive, plus most of us just like toys I think! To date I cant see that it has negatively effected anything in the tank. It took awhile for my fish to get used to it and go into sleep mode but theyve adapted without incident I feel.
 
Hey noob, or anyone else, have your shrimp caused lack of PE during the day? Ive had several corals lately that show great PE after the main lights go out and overnight but then as soon as the sun comes up in the morning they retract them. These are corals ive had a long time and have always showed good to great PE all times of the day. I just dont know whats causing this. Its been like this since the lysol incident...I mean my coral beauty picks all day long and occasionally nips at a coral here and there but hes not eating polyps or doing damage. Plus the shrimp skampers all over the place all day long...so I have things that can cause this but other than these 3 corals, no other corals do it. The effected corals are a BN, yellow acro?, and a wild what looks to be a tricolor.

First up...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Bro...what gift did ya buy for her :D sorry for being nosy :D Get her a New Reef Tank :D

Now about the shrimps...the Skunks are very very active guys and roamers, there is a possibily they can disturb some SPS but wont do any harm what so ever....and some SPS get turned off and react by retracting polyps...and some just stay the same, non retracted...:D. This is what iv seen...
But fire shrimps are much more crypic....and so dont crawl up and down corals and remain hanging out on the overhangs in stealth mode, except during feeding time they come out charging. I have kept Fire shrimps and Skunks....all the skunks always come out whenever i put my hands in the tank and start nibblin...but the fire shrimps never did it...but yesterday when i put my hands inside the tank one of my fire shrimps crawled up to my hand and started nibbling...the other one disappered to the abyss...i think its a personality issue...and i do hope the one that crawled up my hand is a female...otherwise its outright creepy :lol:
This is one of the reasons i went with the Fire shrimps, coz they are not big roamers.
The coral beauty has always been a model citizen whenever i had em and so is the case in the tanks of the others i have known....but then again personality variations can occur. Thriving corals do tolerate nibbling better than frags. IMHO i dont think any damage will be done. :)
 
First up...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Bro...what gift did ya buy for her :D sorry for being nosy :D Get her a New Reef Tank :D

Now about the shrimps...the Skunks are very very active guys and roamers, there is a possibily they can disturb some SPS but wont do any harm what so ever....and some SPS get turned off and react by retracting polyps...and some just stay the same, non retracted...:D. This is what iv seen...
But fire shrimps are much more crypic....and so dont crawl up and down corals and remain hanging out on the overhangs in stealth mode, except during feeding time they come out charging. I have kept Fire shrimps and Skunks....all the skunks always come out whenever i put my hands in the tank and start nibblin...but the fire shrimps never did it...but yesterday when i put my hands inside the tank one of my fire shrimps crawled up to my hand and started nibbling...the other one disappered to the abyss...i think its a personality issue...and i do hope the one that crawled up my hand is a female...otherwise its outright creepy :lol:
This is one of the reasons i went with the Fire shrimps, coz they are not big roamers.
The coral beauty has always been a model citizen whenever i had em and so is the case in the tanks of the others i have known....but then again personality variations can occur. Thriving corals do tolerate nibbling better than frags. IMHO i dont think any damage will be done. :)

Yeah, I love my shrimp and the coral beauty may be the main problem. I had time today to sit and stare at the tank for around an hour and boy, he verges on neurotic! Pick, pick,pick,pick swim...pick, pick, pick! It never ends and he does swipe the effected corals but in the time I watched him, he didnt touch the uneffected corals. Bingo. Again, I saw no damage done just irritation. I dont know if I want to live with that or not. Im not one to get somthing in my care then get rid of it just due to its natural instincts that I knew of going in...but, I like PE. Which of us doesnt? Ill have to give thought to this. I think a fishing line would be the only way but I know id just keep catching miss piggy(female clown).

Oh, and I sent her 10 long stem roses to her at work wrapped in a tin paper and silver streamers. I actually researched what metal was customary for 10th anniversary! Tin foil, seriously? I buy my wife renoylds wrap all the time...tin foil? who comes up with this crap? lol

I love your fuge dude ;)

Me too, it gets lots of my nighttime attention, most spent looking for that squat lobster. Saw him last night and got video of it! Horribly unexciting, it was just his claws visible but cool nontheless! As soon as I figure out how to get the edited video into photobucket in order to post it here. I made it in a low grade HD and edited to 10 seconds so that it wont take til next wednesday to upload.

I love your tanks by the way! Its an honor to have you comment here! Thanks. Looking forward to your updates!
 
Nice job as always. Tank looks better all the time.

The moonlight PE shots are really cool. Doesn't look like the shrimp is affecting them too much to me.

With that fuge I would say you have two planted tanks.
 
ANyone have reccomendations for a red colored algae that does well in lowish light? My fuge light sits to the front of the tank leaving the rear to get little lighting. My ulva does well with it so I know its not so dim that things cant be kept at least alive. I would just like to add more color and height behind the caulerpa to the back left. Maybe something with a neat shape?

Reefsmac you got me thinking about the fact that this fuge is really just a plant tank and as such I feel I need some constrast and height in that back corner.
 
The Red Bubble Algae :D
Looks nice unless it gets pesty on ya.
Does it hav "take over the DT" potential? I did have some grow automatic in my fuge (old tank) and under T5. Just small bunches, looked nice but it never really grow out too much. So I'm not so sure :D
The tiny bunch I had in my present tank has disappeared.
 
yeah, in my old 28 they did spead but not like valonia thank god. Like you, I actually like the red variety. Especially the little dots of color at the base of it. Its a neat one, but I would like something with a little more substance. Something similar to the ulva or caulerpa in structure. Like a standalone plant I can trim and harvest as well. It would need to be able to grow in lowish light and have an upright growth pattern so it could be seen above all that caulerpa to the left/center.
 
I may just google pictures of "red macroalgae" then post in the WTB thread I guess. If anyone has expeierience with a good one though, let me know!
 
I grow red gracilaria in my fuge and it's a beautiful red macro algae. I clip pieces off to feed my urichin. I got it from reefcleaners.org

I wouldn't consider my fuge high light and my gracilaria still stays red. i grow ulva, chaeto and caluerpa too.
 
ALso, im having such an explosion of critters in the fuge now that the ulva is struggling to grow fast enough to heal itself of all the holes being chewed in it. I have to assume its the mysis since these holes started after I started seeing them show up in numbers. I guess it could be all the stomatella getting hungry. There is NO microagae visible anywhere and ive never cleaned the glass since I started the tank. Its funny to see sponges taking the place of algae on the glass! I feel like I ought to clean it so that im able to continue to see in there! At least the front pane. I cant tell you how awesome it is to have a thriving fuge for once!

All the other attempts have revolved around cheato, which I just cant grow so they have always failed and become detrimental to the system instead of a benefit. I can honestly say and reccomend now after seeing my results, that regular additions of iron and algae feast is a great tool for success! I want a bigger fuge now!
 
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