Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread
- Thread starter jadette
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jadette
Member
So here I am, sipping on my green tea, listening to old New Edition songs on Youtube, and a sudden urge to update my thread came over me.
Not that there's anything titillating to report. I've pretty much spent the last month tinkering with my tank for no good reason and ****ing off the inhabitants. That's okay, because I'M on top of the food chain and I can do what I please. I have learned a few things though.
First off, using Grey Goose Vodka over the generic stuff does not yield better results. I will continue to use Grey Goose however, since I ran out of the generic stuff and am too lazy to buy another bottle.
Second thing is, lower Kelvin bulbs do result in faster growing corals! Big news flash huh? I decided to set my Radium aside for a week or three to throw on 10K EVC bulbs. Made my tank look like my fish had bladder issues, but boy did I see growth! I ****ed off some, bleached others, but after things started to adjust to the new bulbs, I saw pretty little growth nubs everywhere. The problem though, was I could not stand looking at my pee-yellow tank. The other problem was that even though the corals were growing faster, they did not look happy. I had to switch back to the Radiums when my corals decided to give me the finger.
The third thing that I have learned this month is that I am not happy with my tank unless I am constantly fiddling with it. There is no such thing as "just leave it alone and let things grow" for me. I just can't. It drives me crazy to not stick my hand in my tank to move a coral 1/2" over a bit. I am contemplating going full zeovit just so I have things to throw in my tank on a daily basis. I know SPS folks like to preach "Stability Promotes Success", but to me, SPS stands for "Sanity Promotes Success". And I need to stick my stinkin' hands in my tank every day and twice on Tuesdays to stay sane.
And my corals will continue to grow middle fingers to show their rage.
But the fourth thing I learned this month is that I am okay with that.
Not that there's anything titillating to report. I've pretty much spent the last month tinkering with my tank for no good reason and ****ing off the inhabitants. That's okay, because I'M on top of the food chain and I can do what I please. I have learned a few things though.
First off, using Grey Goose Vodka over the generic stuff does not yield better results. I will continue to use Grey Goose however, since I ran out of the generic stuff and am too lazy to buy another bottle.
Second thing is, lower Kelvin bulbs do result in faster growing corals! Big news flash huh? I decided to set my Radium aside for a week or three to throw on 10K EVC bulbs. Made my tank look like my fish had bladder issues, but boy did I see growth! I ****ed off some, bleached others, but after things started to adjust to the new bulbs, I saw pretty little growth nubs everywhere. The problem though, was I could not stand looking at my pee-yellow tank. The other problem was that even though the corals were growing faster, they did not look happy. I had to switch back to the Radiums when my corals decided to give me the finger.
The third thing that I have learned this month is that I am not happy with my tank unless I am constantly fiddling with it. There is no such thing as "just leave it alone and let things grow" for me. I just can't. It drives me crazy to not stick my hand in my tank to move a coral 1/2" over a bit. I am contemplating going full zeovit just so I have things to throw in my tank on a daily basis. I know SPS folks like to preach "Stability Promotes Success", but to me, SPS stands for "Sanity Promotes Success". And I need to stick my stinkin' hands in my tank every day and twice on Tuesdays to stay sane.
And my corals will continue to grow middle fingers to show their rage.
But the fourth thing I learned this month is that I am okay with that.
jadette
Member
I said i liked tinkering with my tank, not throw a bunch of benjamins in it! I can't keep up with high rollers like you Lawrence!
Although masked angelfish are very beautiful, I can't see myself justifying the extra cost over a typical swallowtail pair. I would only want to keep a pair for baller status.
For the rhomboids, I would need to cover my tank first, and i don't see myself doing that anytime soon.
I did a bit more research on the ventralis anthias, and unless I'm willing to keep my tank below 75 degrees year around (an expense I'm not willing to take up), I do not think I would be successful with them.
I may just go with more ignitus. If I ever decide to set up my autofeeder for frozen foods, I would consider picking up more purple queens. I did have it set up for awhile, but took it down when the PQs died last year during my velvet outbreak. It was kind of a pain to clean anyways.
I like tinkering with my tank, but I don't like slaving over it.
And this weekend tinkering will be my lights.
Going to head out to Fry's in a bit to pick up a few quick disconnects for my LED light bars:
These were made with 40% royal blues, 10% blues, 40% cool whites, and 10% warm whites.
I also ordered this as a christmas present to myself:
Going to hook it up to my DMM to make my own budget par meter. With the $200 I saved for going this route over a full par meter, I am going to pick up a Zeovit Zeolite reactor.
I can't believe I'm actually going to consider going full Zeo in 2013 for sh*ts and giggles.
Off to Fry's I go!
jadette
Member
From what I see is your doing it right when it comes to your tank. Im jelouse.. Btw. Still holding some red hornets for you
I make plenty of mistakes with my tank. I just don't publicize them as much. Two weeks ago, I got paranoid and thought I saw bite marks on my pink jade colony. I aggressively dipped it and basted it in a bucket of Revive only to find very unhappy amphipods fall off of it. The pink jade was none too happy either and started STN'ing at the base when I returned it to its former spot. The STN'ing stopped, but I now have a very unattractive white patch at the base of the coral. I had done the same with my pink milli colony earlier in the month. I just can't seem to leave stuff alone. :facepalm:
Me want those red hornets! Got to complete that hornet collection you know. I love having zoas grow on interesting substrates. I have that tonga branch covered in tubbs blue zoos. I have reserved a barnacle to grow out the blue, purple, and red hornets. Hornets are faster growers so I anticipate a full barnacle by the end of next year hopefully.
I am a happy camper today. I finally finished my light fixture that I have been working on for over a year now. :dance:
What took me so long was getting a project box that would house all of the LED drivers and my controller and the use of quick disconnects that would allow me to move things around very easily. The frustration I had with my first go with LEDs was the fact that I had wires tangled everywhere. Every time I wanted to move my fixture or add another LED bar in, I had to deal with wires just EVERYWHERE. I have an open fixture (great for keeping things cool without the need of fans), so I had to make sure all the wires were tucked neatly away. That meant a lot of drilling holes in aluminum channels. It took a lot of time, but at the end of the day (errrr... end of the year!), it was worth it!
I really like how the LEDs compliment the Radiums. Interestingly enough, they added a lot of pink to the spectrum. Probably the warm whites I threw in.
The only gripe I have is that my fixture now looks like some actress's lighted mirror in some random hollywood dressing room. Or a random lighted billboard at the county fair. Not sure what I can do to change this without blocking out some of the light.
Hmm... More tinkering to come.
MammothReefer
Active member
tank looks great!
solitude127
Proud user of IO Salt!
I think you need to setup the other tank so that it'll give you something to tinker with.
solitude127
Proud user of IO Salt!
Hey Shirley,
I want to add some anthias to my tank, what do you suggest?
I want to add some anthias to my tank, what do you suggest?
jadette
Member
Thanks!
I'm working on that. More to come.
That's the hubby's tank, so it's hands off for me.
Besides, my whole need to mess with my tank was primarily b/c I was on winter break (company shutdown). Now that I'm back at work, I don't have time to mess with my tank, which I guess isn't entirely a bad thing!
jadette
Member
Hmm.. That's a fun question for me to answer, but it really depends on many factors.
1) First, how often are you willing to feed?
2) Do you want a small or large group?
3) Do you have means of obtaining anthias that are not that commonly sold at LFS?
I'm guessing you're looking for something a little more exotic than your average lyretail or bartlett.
If you're going with a group of 7+, I would recommend ignitus, randalls, or caryberri. They stay realtively small, so you can get a bigger group. I've had personal success with the first two with only 2-3 feedings a day. Caryberri's I have not had personal experience with, but I've read that they are very similar in behavior to the ignitus. I've been waiting for them to go on sale at LiveAquaria. They used to go on sale for $16@ from time to time, but I haven't seen them at that price for awhile.
If you have a way of feeding frequently, I would try evansi. They are, in my opinion, in the same boat as purple queen's when it comes to being just simply beautiful in a reef aquarium. I am in the process of building my own autofeeder of zooplankton. Been experimenting with a nice blend of room temperature tolerant liquid food that the anthias will eat and it's working out so far. Once I get my autofeeder online (which I will detail in my build thread eventually), I'm going to order a group of 5 from liveaquaria.
If you just want a nice, big pair of colorful anthias, the pictilius are my choice. The specimens that I have seen readily available at LFS's have always been fat and healthy.
In general though, my experience with anthias is:
1) When you get a big group, you will always get 1 or 2 that will die within the first few days b/c they refuse to eat. So if you want a group of 7, I would buy 9.
2) be patient and pick only the fat ones. I have never purchased a "small, thin" anthias that lived to "bounce back" (outside of lyretails. couldn't kill those even if I tried)
3) be willing to experiment with different foods. I give my anthias a more balanced diet than what I feed my own children.
dodgerblew
Team RC
sent you a PM
bullitr
broke but happy
Mike in addition to Shirley great suggestion,
Lyretail and bartletts are easier to keep but tends to be aggressive to each other
Randall's are the best looking one but they don't school around the tank like Bartlett's and in my experience are slightly better than purple queens but still hard to keep compare to other species.
Ignitus and dispar are will be a better choice if you want a big group and if you don't want a bartletts
For Hardy, large and very colorful anthias
I suggest to look into Red stripe , Carlsoni, red bar and my new favorite Hawaiian fancy anthias.
If you want a rarer large anthias white bar, Borbonious or a australian pair that Aaron have on his amazing store. ( I forgot the name ) but its a great price for a very healthy specimen.
If your looking for a small but you don't care if they school
Get a pair or sunburst or ventralis
This is only from my experience
Good luck
Lyretail and bartletts are easier to keep but tends to be aggressive to each other
Randall's are the best looking one but they don't school around the tank like Bartlett's and in my experience are slightly better than purple queens but still hard to keep compare to other species.
Ignitus and dispar are will be a better choice if you want a big group and if you don't want a bartletts
For Hardy, large and very colorful anthias
I suggest to look into Red stripe , Carlsoni, red bar and my new favorite Hawaiian fancy anthias.
If you want a rarer large anthias white bar, Borbonious or a australian pair that Aaron have on his amazing store. ( I forgot the name ) but its a great price for a very healthy specimen.
If your looking for a small but you don't care if they school
Get a pair or sunburst or ventralis
This is only from my experience
Good luck
jadette
Member
solitude127
Proud user of IO Salt!
Aaron has a pictilis pair.
Can you PM me the price on these?
jadette
Member
The card reader on my computer crashed so I haven't been able to upload any recent pics.
Managed to take a few crappy pics from my cell phone though, so I'll post those.
First, a verbose update:
1) I started Zeovit the first week of January. I had to lower my ALK down to 6.5-7.5 dKH per Zeovit commandments. I normally keep my ALK at 8.5, so I started lowering it by diluting my ALK mixture that I dose with RO water. After one week of doing this, I checked my ALK and it was at 4.5 dKH. WHat the ?!?!?!?!? Didn't kill any corals, but I did cause 4 of my largest colonies to STN at the base. I am anal about some things and lackadaisical about others. One thing I can not stand is seeing unhealthy corals in my tank, so I hacked up the colonies to remove the STN'd parts and threw the healthy parts in my sump.
Yes, I am lame.
2) February approaches and Zeovit is sorta working and sorta not. Some corals that have not grown in years in my tank are now growing stubs everywhere. Dull corals are now exhibiting colors that they never had before. Then I have my healthiest corals start to lose some of its "shine" and others lose polyp extension. I just can't win in this hobby without penalties it seems.
3) The experience has led me to come to a realization. I love cheap corals. I love the look of digitatas and birdnests. Sure, they won't fetch top dollar at the local frag swap (not that I am known to sell my corals anyway) and they won't get ooh's and ahh's from the most discriminating collectors. No one will envy my 7 inch colony of neon green birdsnest. But gosh darn it, I think large colonies of SPS corals that will not RTN if I look at them the wrong way is the direction I want to go with my tank!
Here's the right side of my tank - The more "immature" side with the frags (really try to keep frags in my main display at a minimum). The digitatas and birdsnest frags have grown into colonies, while my acros are still little nubs.
The pink lemonade is the only acropora exception. That sucker grows like a beast! I just love the ponape birdsnest in the front though. Not a highly sought after coral, but still one of my faves.
Picked up this green coral from stryker back in 2010. He called it "the green monster". Truly the brightest green coral I have ever owned (brighter than my green slimer). It hasn't grown much over the years, but ever since I started zeovit, all these little nubs starting growing on it. It is rather an oddly shaped coral. The branches are so thick, I can't imagine how I could ever frag it.
Here's the lemondrop BTA that I got from Lawrence. It turned orange in my tank (was yellow in his, I believe), but I just love love love its cute little bubble tips! Makes me want to stick my hand in my tank and pinch it all over!
Here's another slow grower in my tank that I absolutely love. My red goniopora!
In conclusion, I love cheap corals, I'm on the fence regarding Zeovit, and I think it's sad that a kid got suspended from school b/c he ate his poptart in such a way that it resembled a gun.
True story.
bullitr
broke but happy
Looks great Shirley I love cheap corals also but I can't keep some SPS of the moment but hopefully I can have some in my cube soon and it seems the lemondrop can only keep the bright neon yellow under heavy blue LEDs mine looks crappy at the moment( not much blue LEDs in my tank ATM ) because I don't like heavy blue lights it makes my fish looks dull and ugly
mine looks crappy at the moment( not much blue LEDs in my tank ATM ) because I don't like heavy blue lights it makes my fish looks dull and uglyReally?!?! That's obsessive! God bless those families of victims from school shootings.
Back to your thread, Shirley, awesome review on zeo. I have a vertex zeovit reactor with the basic 4 I am contemplating whether or not to try.
Sponge power and xtra are two items I recently started using from pohls recently and they have definitely increased coloration, tissue depth, and metallic shimmer to the acros. Sponge power has increased purples and water clarity, while xtra deepened the tissue color and metallic shimmer that's been lackluster for the past few months. Have you considered dosing only specific products from pohl's to target your goal?
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