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

[Ojos22]

Looking great Henry!

 

[nightOwl]

Awesome looking monti!

cvilleh2o - Thanks! I hope to upload some more tonight or tomorrow.

Looking great Henry!

Jon - Thanks and check your PM I had a question about your tank pictures.

 

[nightOwl]

General Updates - How Light Really Affects Corals

I was about to carry my camera downstairs and was looking through a few pictures. This was my green unknown that was in my old frag tank before moving to the new tank. We all know I had issues with my lights and that has been resolved now so corals are coloring up great. Here are few pictures to show just how bad this coral was and hopefully a glimpse into what it will become. I have noticed that since I cut the ends new growth has been a pretty good color. I am going to do more snipping .

6/20/2011

6/21/2011

7/7/2011

9/21/2011

7/14/2012

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[kdpuffer]

This may seem stupid but what's the top down box for?

 

[nightOwl]

This may seem stupid but what's the top down box for?

kdpuffer - Not a stupid question at all. It allows me to put my camera lense in the water without it getting wet. With the lense attached to the camera I put the lense in the top down box. Then stick both into the water. The painted sides help keep out any reflection and glare while I shoot pictures from above. Some corals look really great from above so it gives us a different perspective on viewing the coral.

 

[kdpuffer]

I had suspected something along those lines thanks for clarifying.

 

[SPotter]

amazing pictures and even more amazing progress with the corals!!! Keep up the great work Henry!

 

[nightOwl]

I had suspected something along those lines thanks for clarifying.

kdpuffer - No problem at all.

amazing pictures and even more amazing progress with the corals!!! Keep up the great work Henry!

Steve - Thanks man. I found another one one I am going post some progression shots of. It does not take long when all the parameters are in line...LOL.

 

[Nwest]

wow Henry, I am so glad that I have been following this thread for so long.... gives me hope for my 180. What are your numbers normally for everything such as alk, cal, nitrate, what not.

As for the fish I have found out that adding a new fish with the lights off helps out a lot. I just recently added another Halichoeres wrasse to my tank and everyone said wont work. I did it with the lights off for 3 days besides reef brights and everything is fine now. I have added tangs like this also and it helps out with the aggression. Just thought I would let ya know one of my tips to help ya out!!! Best of luck and cant wait to see more progression in the future.

 

[The Rio Reef]

amazing work

 

[nightOwl]

wow Henry, I am so glad that I have been following this thread for so long.... gives me hope for my 180. What are your numbers normally for everything such as alk, cal, nitrate, what not.

As for the fish I have found out that adding a new fish with the lights off helps out a lot. I just recently added another Halichoeres wrasse to my tank and everyone said wont work. I did it with the lights off for 3 days besides reef brights and everything is fine now. I have added tangs like this also and it helps out with the aggression. Just thought I would let ya know one of my tips to help ya out!!! Best of luck and cant wait to see more progression in the future.

Nwest - Thanks! How is your 180 coming along? I will get you some numbers tomorrow night sometime. I have not tested in a while but now that you bring up the question about the parameters I will get it done. I suspect my phosphate will be a little high. I had someone taking care of the tank while I was on vacation and per my misguided instructions they may have overfed a weeeeeeeee bit .

I really wanted to add a new Chevron but not sure my tank could sustain 3 tangs. I have seen people with the same size tank have more but I was trying to think long term. I had posted a question about it and so many people said no just based on the swimming space for them . I may have to try your lights out trick next time. The two tangs I have now are like big brother little brother. The yellow tang tolerates him much better now that he sees he is not a threat. How may wrasses and tangs do you have in your tank now? I'm not sure if you remember my wish list but I want to have a few wrasses in this tank when it is all said and done.

amazing work

The Rio Reef - Thank you so much.

 

[nightOwl]

General Update - AquaMedic Tubing Worn Out

The last few days or so I have been keeping an eye on my alk levels and have noticed that the controller has been saying they are lower than I like. Two days ago I added more kalk in my reactor and noticed nothing really changed. Nwest's request for my parameters had me take a look at a few things. I went to test my Calcium the levels were pretty high 500 plus. I happened to be right in front of the doser when I noticed nothing was being sucked up the tube for my alk . If it had not been for the clear tubing I have at the intake side and Nwest's request this may have gotten worse. I will be ordering a few new tubes hopefully in the next day or so and try to get the levels under control. Once they are I will report back with the parameters.​

 

[Nwest]

Right now I have a half black mimic tang, naso tang, and powder brown. As for wrasses I have a Halichoeres annularis, Halichoeres melanurus, Paracheilinus filamentosus, Paracheilinus mccoskeri, and a Macropharyngodon negrosensis with a few more going to be added!!

Rest of the tank is a pair of blue throat triggers, bellus angel, and 2 bartletts.

 

[nightOwl]

Right now I have a half black mimic tang, naso tang, and powder brown. As for wrasses I have a Halichoeres annularis, Halichoeres melanurus, Paracheilinus filamentosus, Paracheilinus mccoskeri, and a Macropharyngodon negrosensis with a few more going to be added!!

Rest of the tank is a pair of blue throat triggers, bellus angel, and 2 bartletts.

Nwest - Nice selection. I loved my Filament Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus filamentosus) I can not wait to get my wrasse selection up to 3 or 4 in the tank. I think I will have only the smaller flashers and fairy's though. Do you get to see yours flash much? Do you have any issues with the size of the Halichoeres vs the smaller Paracheilinus?

.

 

[Nwest]

nope no problem at all! Only problem I had was when I added the annularis, my melanurus chased him around for a little bit. Other than that they are model citizens and have had no problems!

 

[nightOwl]

That's promising...I was a bit hesitant of a few wrasses because of their size but I keep seeing people make it work so I guess I should be OK when its my time to add more. I also plan to use that container I used for the tang when I get more wrasses so they can see each other a little bit before they can actually chase. That in combination with your light trick hopefully will help everyone get along.

 

[nightOwl]

General Update - Fish Dead and Screen Update

This morning I came downstairs and found my Blue Spotted Jawfish (Opistognathus rosenblatti) dead. I am not sure what the cause of death was as he was eating well the and it is day 14 in QT. The flasher seems fine and is showing no signs of disease. I tested for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites etc and all were zero. I had not begun treatment on them as when I got them he was a little on the small side and I wanted to fatten them up before treatment. I am thinking it has to be something internal since he did not seem to fatten up in 14 days. In hind-site I should have started treatment earlier. I will use the 5 day treatment I have used for the last few fish and introduce the flasher to the main display in the next week or so. I have decided I am officially done with Blue Spotted Jawfish! They are pretty but my track record with them is no good at this point .

While downstairs I also sealed the hole where the last flasher jumped out of and made sure there were not other little holes. In my process of refitting the cover I put a hole in one screen so I have to order more screening from BRS this weekend and replace the damaged screen. I thought I had some extra laying around but so far have been unable to find it.

On a side note I am missing a glass cardinal (Apogon leptacanthus) as well. I am pretty sure it is because of my Spotted Bristletooth Tang (Ctenochaetus truncatus). The last week or so I have seen him chasing them around.

Finally I updated some pictures from my trip to Mexico so I have a short snorkeling clip and a few pictures from my snorkeling excursion.
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[Nwest]

ahhhhh never good to loss any fish. I just lost my female blue throat on friday. not sure why either. It stinks that we can loss them and not even know why...

 

[nightOwl]

ahhhhh never good to loss any fish. I just lost my female blue throat on friday. not sure why either. It stinks that we can loss them and not even know why...

Nwest - sorry for your loss as well. Today I checked the wrasse is still going strong so it had to be something internal for the Blue Spotted Jawfish.

 

[nightOwl]

It has been a while since my last update and my tank has been neglected over the past few weeks. I have been studying for a certification for work and since I passed my test on Friday it is time to get back to reefing! It's always funny when your real job gets in the way of your hobby.

General Updates - Change in lighting for frag tank

All of the corals in my frag tank are ugly and brown. This is due to not enough light from the 250 watt MH on a spider reflector. I have tried running the lights longer but it it just burns the ones under the light. I have decided to go back to T5's for a while and see what results I will get. Since I am only using the frag tank as a grow out tank and currently they are not growing I felt a change is needed. My bulbs arrived and now that I should have more free time I hope to make the change over the next week or so. I will be lowering the height of the lights since I can get better coverage and less heat with the T5's. I will still keep the Super Actinics on the frag tank.

I did not put too much thought in the brand of lights, but wanted to pick up some 10,000k bulbs. I ended up trying a new brand AquaticLife. Hopefully they will have a nice color and provide better growth than my existing set up.

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General Updates - Generator

With all the crazy weather we have been having and power outages I figured I would put a plan in place for the tank. I picked up a cheap generator and next weekend will give it a trial run to see how it works and how much noise it makes. Hopefully I will not have to use it but with so many people loosing so much over the last month or so I wanted to be somewhat prepared.

Harbor Freight had a sale and I made a trip up to Maryland and picked one up. The Chicago brand is cheap but I do not plan on using it on a daily basis. I just need it to work just in case .

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General Updates - Screen For Display

Finally I am waiting for my Bulk Reef Supply order to get here so that I can finish my screen. The wrasse is ready to join general population. I have my eye on another one so I need him to clear out . I think my new approach should keep the future wrasses in the tank. With the new four piece design I will have a smaller footprint for any fish to jump when I am feeding.

Right Side

Left Side

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