Isla Escondido - invincible569's Rimless 300g

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I agree with mcrist, I am having a very hard time being patient now that my tank is all set up and full of stuff. I just have to wait for it all to grow big now. It is very hard to do without wanting to constantly go to stores and buy more corals and stuff
 
need a picture fix

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9994610#post9994610 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by invincible569
naka, see you then. I will be available about 1 and then anytime in the evening. Just call me and we will coordinate a time.

mr9iron, thank you very much. When it matures, it will look even better. Now I just have to be patient. :)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9934377#post9934377 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by invincible569
Another initiation.. this time its a Majestic Angel - Pomacanthus Navarchus. Its suppose to be the most safest out of the Pomacanthus family. The color of this fish is a great addition for diversity. No issues with any of the other angels. Everyone is happy.

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Gday Edward,

Nice choice of fish mate! Havn't had any trouble with mine either, leaves all the stony corals alone! :D
Josh
 
First of all, your tank looks very nice.

I, too, tried foregoing QT several times, on some of my tanks, until I eventually developed the patience to QT all newcomers. Being impatient unfortunately caused the untimely demise of more than a couple beautiful specimens.

Unfortunately, though, it looks like it'll be survival of the fittest in your tank, as well. W/O QT you'll eventually experience some problems with the introduction of a pest, be it bacterial, viral or parasitic. It's just a matter of time, especially if you continue to add new, unquarantined specimens. :(
 
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Speckled trust me in sayin Ed knows his stuff he is one of the go to guys on this site when people have questions incase you didnt know him
 
Update on Angels:
All are doing well. I've noticed the flagfin likes to pick at one of my LPS quite a bit. It's a new fragged coral and I have been trying to hide it from the Flagfin as much as possible but he kept finding it. I finally found a spot way up high close to the water surface and its been ok since. He's also found my pink chalice which is the coral he was nipping on when I first introduced it. He hasnt touched it since. If these guys start getting hungry, they start getting curious. I feed twice a day minimum. The Flagfin is the only one who like Formula 2 flakes. All others like the Spectrum pellets. I feed live brine, mysis, zooplankton, pellets, Angelfood mix, etc. A good variety daily. I crank the skimmer to the highest possible setting because of this. The Bellus is the quickest and swims by quick before the other Angels can get to the food... he swims by so quick that the other Angel has its mouth open ready to eat and zoooooomm.. the Bellus grabs it by fast. LOL. Im also trying my hardest to stay away from purchasing a Tang. I want this to be a true all Angel tank. Something different and a bit more challenging. What I have learned through this process is to pick out your Angels first before your corals. Most people will introduce all corals first and then decide to add Angels taking a huge risk on many corals and not just one when doing in the reverse order. Having test corals has helped me feel more confident in my next coral purchase on what I can and cant buy. OH and suprisingly, no quarreling of any Angels to this day.

Update on Corals:
All corals have shown great signs of growth and coloring. My favorite are those SPS that are getting shined on by the spotlight which is getting that color I was hoping for from the side. It's still very soon and I dotn want to make any concrete conclusions just yet, but it seems to make a difference. If the coral is being penetrated by light at any angle, then this is where the SPS will color and grow towards. I've already had some frags that fishcraze gave me for testing that he had as brownouts that are showing its true color now. Im excited because he asked me to try and get it to color because he couldnt. I also like going to the LFS and buying the hidden treasures that people do not see.. the brown outs! Those are my challenges. To get them to color up.

Update on Lighting:
I have not changed the lighting intensity and have stayed with keeping 2x250 on instead of all 3. It is the perfect combination in my eyes. The Giesemann Spectra only comes on for 4 hrs of the day. My main source of light comes from the T5's and Spotlight at 9 hrs a day. This will be changed a bit later though as I want the spotlight to only come on before the main core lights (Spectra) and after. I honeslty love the look without the main core lights on and just the spotlight and T5's. You would have to see it in person to understand.

mcrist and hat... I understand 100%. Like the both of you, its hard going to an LFS and not leaving with something to feed your addiction. In my last tank, I purchased a lot very fast.. I always had a coral to add and the tank filled up quick. After 3 yrs.. I felt I had all the corals I ever wanted. There was not much to conquer after that. With this tank, im trying to take it very slow and enjoy it as long as possible. As we all know, the more we add now.. the more we have to get rid of in 3-4 yrs because they will grow into each other and you end up keeping a couple big corals.

jnb, let me get a pic for you today! :)

Josh, mine hasnt either. He likes to hide a lot though.

speclked, I definitely understand where you are coming from. I plan to at least do some freshwater dips soon. It's scary, but I dont want to infect the entire tank if something is out there that I cant see and may destroy the angel population.

sfsu, im not sure hows its setup. You can contact Jaime at AE. Im sure they can help you.

Aimforever, I really appreciate the positive comments. Maybe I will have to reread it myself. ;)

Tanya, thanks for looking out for me and your support.
 
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I think you are doing an excellent job building this system and I have forwarded pics to my buddies that are currently in the design stage. I really like your commentary regarding the different lighting schemes you are working with. Something you mentioned before about the more "natural" lighting has had me thinking about it ever since.

I know there were a lot of people who disagreed with the way I decided to light my tank, but I have been extremely happy with it in terms of the look and the coral growth and coloration. This is my first SW tank and to have nicely colored growing coral colonies is a victory in and of itself. My lighting planning centered around primarily cost reduction, simplicity, and a "deep sea" look and that is why I went with the 1000W 20K Ushio SE lamps. When viewing my tank in person, although it is very bright, it also gives the impression of being deeper in a reef rather than near the surface. What I lose though is the warm light of the reef top nearer to the surface and based on your work and discussions herein, I am looking into trying to spot light the upper reef.

One issue to contend with is that my left and right end lamps are on movers, but I think this may not affect the spot lighting. So far, corals have really responded well to the high powered 20K lamps, and I belive that having the light move causes a more natural growth pattern, and when viewing the tank, you can easily imagine a cloud passing overhead.

I really like your stylized reef keeping approach and am interested in your opnion regarding adding spots in my particular situation. I guess the main questions are, with such intense 20K lighting, do you think a spot will make a difference, and what kind of approach would you take to adding spot lighting to the upper reef? And of course the other concern is over-lighting as I have found out I really don't do well with ricordia and most LPS, while SPS seem to prosper quite well.

Your build has me following closely for multiple reasons and I, without sounding too "kiss-butt", have to say that yours is indeed one of my favorite tanks on RC for the artistry of the install, lighting scheme, and in-your-face stocking plan. I am often tempted to purchase a fish that I know too well will probably cause problems, and yet here you are stocking a reef with angels! I guess it's a matter of philosophy and mine centers on a vast coral reef wherein the fish are extras, and you have chosen to showcase beautiful fish and match corals to them. Very interesting indeed.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10021535#post10021535 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fisheebill
I love when you post pics!
The tank is looking sweet!

Love the angle shots.

Especially when the tank is amazing as this one. Well done on such an amazing set up. :thumbsup:

Cheers

Chris
 
Bill, thank you so much

Chris, I really appreciate the comments.

jnarowe, great post! I love reading long posts. It lets me understand what the reader is really thinking :) Spotlighting the top would be great. How tall is your tank? If your aquascape is on a wall, then you can definitely aim at the top corals. I like that idea very much. A spot should make a difference especially if you are giving the coral another wavelength of light to feed off. Think of it this way.. a human can tan right? Well.. we have different bulbs in the tanning beds. Some get you bronzed and some get you a more of a orange look. Different Kelvin bulbs for different color outcomes. Also, intensity is another factor. The more intense, the more deep the color gets. To much intensity causes darkening. A fine balance is needed. Less intensity equals lighter corals especially softies. A human cells darkens which is just dead cells protecting whats underneath. You can say the same for a coral evolving it to the color you desire.
 
Well I am very interested in your spotlighting process. Since I have 20K lamps, it seems to me that additional lighting in other color temps. makes sense for particular corals.

My tank is 35" deep and the area I am considering spotlighting would be along a reef top that is about 18" below the water surface and home to acropora.
 
I'm looking at all these tanks shots and don't seem to see many fish? What happened to all the other angelfish you got at the begining of this thread? I.E. the scribbled, personifer, singapore, and the multicolor. Oh and the achilles tang as well.
 
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kenny, somewhere in these posts.. it explains what happened. It wasnt something I made a big deal about. In the beginning I had an evil orange shoulder tang. He was put in right after the multicolor. I had to borrow naka's fish trap because this guy was killing my fish. He nipped my multicolor & bicolor to death. He also stressed out my achilles to death where he had no place to stay still and relax. He was very territorial and always on the lookout for the next victim. As for my skribble & personifer.. these guys didnt make it after the first week. The Personifer lasted 2 days and the Scribbled didnt last but a week. He stopped eating. justrarefish.com didnt have any guarantee's so I was stuck out with $600 (250-Scribble, 250-Personifer, 100-shipping). Thats why you will see me purchase locally or through liveaquaria since they have a 2 wk guarantee. A lot of the fish's luck has to do with how it has been handled through the chain it gets to your door. besides, the shipping was very high from justrarefish.com since they use UPS. Would I ever get the personifer and scribble again? most definitely! I miss those guys.
 
and that's the unfortunate personality gamble we make with any fish. My orange shoulder is very well behaved. In fact all my fish get along fairly well, but I did have incidents which needed to be corrected too.

When I got my "pair" of rhomboid wrasses, one tried to kill the other in QT. I had ordered 3 kole tangs and one arrived DOA. I was working on the idea that 3+ would be good, but with just two, one beat the other into submission and I had to give it away. I lost 1 of 3 yellow tangs right away too...just never saw it again.

Then, about 3 months ago, one yellow tang and a purple tang decided to pick on the 2nd yellow tang. It holed up in a crevace and would not come out because the other two would get right after it. There was no way for me to extract it, and it looked like it would die of starvation. This went on for weeks. Then one day, I guess it got tired of starving and came out to eat. In less than a week in had rejoined the general population and now looks just a s good as the others. Why did it happen? I have no idea. Why did they let him rejoin? Again, no idea.

Fish do have distinct personalities and no matter what research you do, there is always the chance of social issues and even personality changes as the fish mature. I have tried to add a naso twice and both have done well in QT and then stopped eating in the display and perished within 3 - 4 days. That really has bummed me out.
 
I had a hard time getting my naso to eat when I first got him. No mater what I tried he ignored it. He finally started to eat grape caulerpa after 2 weeks. Now he will grab food out from the mouths of my two crosshatch triggers. He going to be big, at least I hope he is a he.
 
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