Barely made the club but time for my 180 upgrade (Warning: Progress may be slow)

[roni]

Henry,

Everything looks awesome! btw, pm me who you got the frags from if you don't mind.

Roni

 

[nightOwl]

Henry,

Everything looks awesome! btw, pm me who you got the frags from if you don't mind.

Roni

Roni - Thanks for the compliments. I will check with my source and make sure he does not mind being named and PM you the info.

General Updates - Frisky Fish

This hobby is so rewarding! I just spent the last 15 mins trying to get pictures of two of my males. They are holding eggs in their mouth!!!! I hope I can get pictures and also hope this is the start of many times I can witness this. Now I just need my clowns to start spawning in the new tank. They have been doing their little romantic dance at night. Hopefully they will get back on cycle as well. I am so excited right now!
​

[/INDENT]

 

[nightOwl]

General Updates - Miscellaneous

CoralVue - Bubble Blaster Pump

CoralVue really came through on this one. The pump was supposed to arrive today but the pump actually arrived yesterday and I was able to get it back on line. The skimmer went back to doing what it does best. I can now go back to feeding heavy as I was before.

Hanna Calcium Checker

Glass Cardinalfish With Eggs

Sorry for the blueness of the picture but this is the best I could do. The fish is very camera shy. If I am standing at the glass without my camera he actually does not mind. He will swim within a few inches of the glass and look at me. As soon as I get the camera he starts to hide. The second male has released his eggs and there is no sign of them in the tank so far. I think this one will release soon as tonight when I fed he would swim up to food but not take it. It was almost like he was smelling the food.

 

[nightOwl]

Roni,
I sent you the information so check your PM.

 

[kayaking2]

Well "nightOwl" I've been following your thread for the day when I get my very own 180 G. I paid attention to what equipment you bought and why. Your plumbing really got my attention.
My tank should arrive on 9/1 and my journey will begin. I will continue to follow your thread since I think you did an excellent job documenting your everything. I may PM you now and again with questions if you don't mind

 

[nightOwl]

Well "nightOwl" I've been following your thread for the day when I get my very own 180 G. I paid attention to what equipment you bought and why. Your plumbing really got my attention.
My tank should arrive on 9/1 and my journey will begin. I will continue to follow your thread since I think you did an excellent job documenting your everything. I may PM you now and again with questions if you don't mind

kayaking2 - Thank you so much for the kind words!!!! Please feel free to contact me. I love sharing my experiences as I find it may help someone not make some of the same mistakes I made . I look forward to seeing how your build thread will go .

General Updates - Glass Cardinals

Over the last few days I have been monitoring the tank daily to see how many of my cardinals are holding eggs. I am hoping to find out how long they keep them and see if I can identify their breeding schedule. I do not expect any fish to ever make it but it is so cool knowing they are repeating the process.

I got my notes out from downstairs in my log and here is what I have so far.

8/22 - Thought the mouth looked weird on two glass cardinalfish
8/23 - Same.
8/24 - Realized the weird mouth things was the males holding eggs. Only one male still had eggs.
8/25 - Same.
8/26 - Both had released eggs.
8/27 - Nothing.
8/28 - Nothing.
8/29 - Male looked like he was gasping for air. After further inspection repeat male with eggs...just looks like a white mass. Similar to Clowns the females seem to be bigger. My biggest female "chases" other females from around the male.
8/30 - Two males with white masses in their mouth. No sign of the eyes yet.

​

 

[BowieReefer84]

How are you like the hanna calcium checker?

 

[nightOwl]

How are you like the hanna calcium checker?

Mike - So far so good. The instructions suck but it seems to be working fine. I now know that my RODI water has calcium level of 200 ppm. I was following the instructions too well. The instructions said fill up to 10 ml line with RODI water. At first I was mad and said the Hanna checker was a piece of crap. Then when I reread the instructions I added my tank water :bigeyes:. Even though they are marketing it for saltwater the included instructions are for generic water testing. After my substitution of tank water for RODI water that seemed to solve the low calcium levels. It read 464 ppm on Monday. I will check it again this week before I do another water change. Since places were doing labor day sales I ordered the alk tester as well .

General Updates - Glass Cardinals

My tank is filled with love :love2:! I now have 3 males holding eggs .

8/31 - Two males with white masses in their mouth. Still no sign of the eyes yet.
9/1 - Same...
9/2 - Same...noticed one of the males mouth has a darker mass now.
9/3 - Two males with white masses in mouth are starting to darken a little. I think the eyes may be starting to form.
9/4 - Noticed a third male carrying an egg mass in his mouth during feeding. The males seem to enjoy "sniffing" during feeding time.
9/5 - Three males eggs.
9/6 - Three males holding eggs. The one with the darker mass seems to adjust the mass more in the evenings.
​

 

[nightOwl]

General Updates - Wiring Complete

Oh almost forgot the wiring is completed so my tank is running on its own dedicated circuit (2 x 20 amp) now. I also patched the holes in the wall and added the first coat of plaster. I have to add a few more and then sand it all down. I also finally sold my tank so all I have to get out the basement is my workbench . I can resume my floor search in the next coming days.​

General Updates - Odds and Ends

I built a little box for my skimmer to drain into. Nothing fancy and it was from some old scraps of acrylic I had laying around.

Next will be a stand for the skimmer to stand on in the sump. I will use some PVC and eggcrate so it will be pretty low key. I have already cut the PVC legs I just need to assemble it.

On 9/3 I picked up 20 Nassarius Snail (Nassarius sp.) to help turn the sand over. I am not sure what happened to my other ones but I don't see them that often so I replaced them. My Cerith Snails (Cerithium sp.) are doing fine and multiplying. I noticed a new egg mass on the tank wall yesterday.
​

 

[nightOwl]

General Updates - New Fish

I have been looking around at some of my local shops for some of the fish on my list. And finally struck the jackpot this past Saturday (9/17) at a LFS. The store was sponsoring a social for our local club (WAMAS) and with that usually come great deals on fish, inverts, and corals. I have been missing many of the socials, but was semi free on Saturday. The store had some great deals and I came away with a Blue Spotted Jawfish (Opistognathus rosenblatti) and two zoa frags. The fish has been pretty active and the thing I love about these fish is they have so much personality. He has a great appetite and is taking mysis without issues. I will try to get him on pellets before introducing him to the main display.

My VHO bulbs are old and needed to be replaced so I also picked up two new bulbs on Saturday. They only had two of the Super Actinic and the guy that runs the Saltwater section (Ben) is going to order me two more.

​

General Updates - Miscellaneous

BRS

9/10 - My order from Bulk Reef Supply came in with some items I had been waiting for. I have been having some phosphate issues which I think my be due to my overfeeding and also the type of food I am using. I have all but given up on getting my Glass Cardinalfish to eat pellets or flakes. Only two will eat pellets readily. My order included GFO, Hannah Alk Checker, Phosphate Reagents, Calcium Reagents, and Alk Reagents. I have not used the Hannah Alk Checker yet. I will post some results when I finally test it out.

BRS Order

New Toys

I picked up some new toys for the tank since I am having heat issues. I picked up two new fans that I will install to blow across the top of the tank. I will integrate them into my light system.

I also picked up an infrared thermometer. I have been playing with it and it is very accurate. This is really going to come in handy when I get my Poison Dart Frogs. For now I can tell where all the spots are in the tank in regards to heat. It has already helped me with the the jawfish in QT. I was using a small heater and turns out it was not enough for my QT tank.

Cerith Snails Artwork

At some point I should be able to see some tiny cerith snails in my tank. They are laying eggs very regularly. The two below were pretty much in the same area.

Nine

Six

​

Glass Cardinalfish

I now have two males again carrying eggs again.
9/7 - Two males with eggs
9/8 - No eggs .
9/10 - Cerith eggs 6 shape
9/13 - Cerith eggs 9 shape
9/16 - Two males with eggs
​

Latest FTS

 

[dahenley]

WOW, what kind of acro is that in the middle/left side that is huge and red?
(maybe a closer picture??)

everything looks cool!

 

[nightOwl]

WOW, what kind of acro is that in the middle/left side that is huge and red?
(maybe a closer picture??)

everything looks cool!

dahenley - Thanks for the compliments. Sadly I do not have any red in the tank that is visible at this time. I have updated the pic with some tags.

 

[dahenley]

Idaho Grape. (is it just a stag? do you remember where you got it?)
its an amazing looking coral from here (although i guess my color is off on my computer...)
(i have a Idaho Grape monti, but i wasnt aware of a acro.)
Very cool!
tanks.

 

[roni]

Everything is looking awesome! Didn't know you were keeping dart frogs too...Always wanted to try but my wife isn't having anything to do with possible flies in the house.

 

[SPotter]

now thats what I wanted to see!!!! awesome shots! cant wait to see the progression of the growth!

 

[nightOwl]

Idaho Grape. (is it just a stag? do you remember where you got it?)
its an amazing looking coral from here (although i guess my color is off on my computer...)
(i have a Idaho Grape monti, but i wasnt aware of a acro.)
Very cool!
tanks.

dahenley - I need to relabel my picture...It is a Miami Orchard stag. I was tired last night trying to label things in the picture. Sorry for the confusion and false excitement. I have a piece of Idaho Grape in my frag tank and it is all but dead.

Everything is looking awesome! Didn't know you were keeping dart frogs too...Always wanted to try but my wife isn't having anything to do with possible flies in the house.

roni - Thanks for the compliments. I have not started keeping the frogs yet. I have all the items I need to set up the cage but I have been waiting till I get the basement finished. I plan to make a nice stand for the tank and have them on display in the basement as well. Get the wingless fruit flies . I plan to have two thumbnails in the enclosure. This spring I went out and collected termites and everything...that did not go over too well when I tried to bring them into the house . That took a little stem out of my balloon and I put them on hold...LOL.

now thats what I wanted to see!!!! awesome shots! cant wait to see the progression of the growth!

Steve - Thanks man. Hurry up and find a tank! I should probably take a pick of each coral to keep track of the changes. I can say that the items in the center of the tank have really taken off since I put them in the tank! There are still a few corals I have to find homes for.

Then - 5/27

Now - 9/17

 

[nightOwl]

General Updates - Miscellaneous

RIP Tiny!

I found a 3 inch section of Tiny stuck to one of the Tunzes this morning during feeding. Not sure if he is still living or not.​

Blue Spotted Jawfish Video

I was a little worried with how fast I set up the QT tank on Saturday. Speckles is settling in pretty good. He eats like a pig and seems to be picky about what he eats from the water column. By that I mean he tries to eat big pieces first then will eat smaller pieces of food. Currently he has no interest in pellets. I am hoping that in the next four weeks I can change that. He has built a burrow with 3 exit points and monitors them pretty frequently. I threw in a few pieces of rubble to help him and he has only used 2 pieces so far. He does not journey far from the burrow with the lights on but I have noticed the last two mornings he has not been sleeping in the burrow. I will keep monitoring to make sure he is OK. Around 26 seconds in the video he does a little house cleaning. I am glad I recorded without sound . Without further ado here is speckles.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid1210.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc413%2Fhcoleman2%2FVIDEO0033.mp4">

​

​

 

[SPotter]

Poor "little" tiny!!!!!!

That video is awesome!!!!!! Speckles looks like a great addition! How big is the qt?

 

[nightOwl]

Poor "little" tiny!!!!!!

That video is awesome!!!!!! Speckles looks like a great addition! How big is the qt?

Steve - Thanks for the condolences...LOL. The QT tank is a 20 gallon tank, pretty basic set up. I am running a dual bio wheel filter, UV Sterilizer, old light from my refugium, and ATO. Currently it has 1 hermit and a few mini brittle starfish to help clean up. I made a pile of sand in the middle and took two small pieces of live rock from my frag tank. I guess the video makes it look bigger than it really is...LOL.

 

[nightOwl]

General Updates - Clown Fish Finally Spawned!!!!!

It has taken them 59 days to get use to their new surroundings ,but this evening they finally made the new tank home. The number of eggs was small but it is similar to when they first started spawning. Hopefully they will get back on schedule. Things are coming together . I took a video of them laying the eggs as well, but it was sideways and too blue. I do not have any software to edit the files right now.

​