Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread
- Thread starter jadette
- Start date
I think nori is good enough.
Thanks to you!
Though long term, I'm not sure if he's eating enough to keep his weight. He's not touching the mysis anymore and will only eat nori pellets and blackworms.
How are the triggers that you recently picked up?
I just want one more fish in my tank (or did I already say that before i picked up the bandit?). I either want a declivis or mitratus. I prefer the latter, but it's so difficult to find one that is fat with good coloration. PIA has a juvi declivis right now.
So tempting.
But nothing for me until the anthias come out.
jadette
Member
I was thinking of trying reef frenzy, but I don't want my fish to get addicted to something that I can't buy regularly. If my LFS stocked it maybe. Or if DFS stocked it (I buy frozen food from them by the bulk when they have their 30% frozen food sales).
Hubby is very big on area specific tanks. It irks him that I have fish from both the pacific and atlantic.
Kudos to you for going for a HI endemic tank. I'm too much of a "ooh! I like that! must have that!" type of person to successfully attempt it.Yes, I love the mitratus with the extra yellow. I think it'll be worth the wait to find a nice specimen.
I have a bottle of chemi-clean that I purchased during a particularly bad bout of cyano a couple of years ago, but decided to see if I could get rid of the cyano by increasing my water change frequency. It worked then, so I never used the bottle.
I'll keep it around in case of an emergency (if the cyano is choking out my corals), but I currently only have a few small patches on the sandbed. Totally controllable at this point.
Good to know it works though. Thanks for the info. I'll keep my bottle in a handy location.
I clean my glass every evening. By the next day, I usually get a little bit of film algae on the glass. If my tank is particularly dirty, the film algae grows faster and thicker on my glass.
That's good to know. He actually likes the spectrum theraA pellets as well. In fact, he's back to eating everything now. Was out of town for a few days. Just got back right now, fed the tank for the first time in days, and the bandit is eating the mysis, brine, and chunks of the nutramar ova. Looks like he's pretty much settled into my tank which makes me happy.
Will be getting rid of the last of my sand this weekend, and then putting down new, clean sand. Should be ready for a FTS kodak moment soon!
dodgerblew
Team RC
Shirley, Aaron who has So Cal Corals in Ventura carries it. He will ship and there are MASVC guys who will bring it down to SFVR meetings since several attend both clubs. If you do want to try it let me know. Sounds like you might not need it now since Bandit has settled in. My filefish is doing great as well. I love the fish, still a bit on the shy side, but has been a model citizen. I picked him up from PIA a few weeks ago on his sale for $12. A good deal for me all things considered.
jadette
Member
What filefish did you get? I saw a pair of orange spotted filefish at Rainbow Pets a couple of weeks ago, and was SO tempted to pick up the pair. I was afraid though that my SPS would not be able to tolerate any more nipping than they're already receiving from my butterfly and angels so I passed. They would surely be an interesting addition to my tank though. I may consider them again in the near future.
About a two years ago, I picked up a random frag from mr. coral back when he had those crazy $10 a frag sales. About 90% of the frags I got from him died mainly b/c they came in as 1/4" nubs that were smothered by algae in my sump (back when I was growing frags in my sump). But this lil' guy hung in there. Not the fastest grower in the beginning (admittedly, I did not give him prime real estate in my tank to flourish), but he has recently taken off.
Here's a pic that just does him no justice:
It's crazy, b/c he's got a mix of purple, teal, green, yellow, and rose and depending on the angle that you look at him, the dominant color changes. He's got pretty baby blue polyps that don't come out much now b/c of my munching butterfly, but you can still see them peek out from time to time. Can't wait til this lil' guy grows into a large colony.
I really need to stop gendering my corals.
I wonder if my black tang is sad that his photo bomb attempts are total fail.
dodgerblew
Team RC
I picked up an yellow tail filefish. Not blow your mind coloration but a bluish pewter and a yellow orange tail. I like the shape of them. Beautiful coral. Would like a space in line for a frag of it when it's time
when it's time
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I would highly recommend the food chef is making. Every fish new and old chow on it instantly. The kicker for me is it's clean. No offense rik but the reef frenzy gave me a bad algae breakout. Once I stopped using it it went away. I have not encountered that with chefs. Now that's just my tank others may not have the same experience. Another plus is he's local
dodgerblew
Team RC
No offense taken. To each there own
jadette
Member
I picked up an yellow tail filefish. Not blow your mind coloration but a bluish pewter and a yellow orange tail. I like the shape of them. Beautiful coral. Would like a space in line for a frag of it
Always down for trading corals. I don't have many exotic ones with fancy names, but have picked up several pieces based on their scientific names that I really, really like. I have a granulosa that I picked up at Reef Raft over a year ago that just did not grow at all, but in the last 4 months or so, it has really taken off. Just love love love the coralite structure of granulosas. To me, they look like lokanis, but are not as sensitive to alk swings. It's about a 3.5" mini-colony now. Going to wait until it grows a bit more before taking a "colony" shot of it!
I would highly recommend the food chef is making. Every fish new and old chow on it instantly. The kicker for me is it's clean. No offense rik but the reef frenzy gave me a bad algae breakout. Once I stopped using it it went away. I have not encountered that with chefs. Now that's just my tank others may not have the same experience. Another plus is he's local
Ooh. I'm sure my fish would just love Brent's special fish food blend! I'm actually looking for a long term feeding solution right now. The bandit, tinkeri, regal, and black tang are such big piggies in my tank, that I have doubled the cubes of mysis that I feed every night. It's getting expensive.
A few local guys here in Portland all experience annual cyano blooms, all about the same time of year...these are old reefs too...
And yes please stop gender identifying your corals
That's good to know. I still have a little cyano left. Most of it in one corner of the tank. Probably lacking flow. In fact, my corals are growing such that I believe I need to adjust the flow in my tank. Thinking of swapping out my vortechs with Tunzes.
Here's my latest FTS:
When I picked up my bandit a couple of months ago, my anthias stopped coming out to feed. Slowly, one by one, the majority of them starved to death. I have 4 anthias left (2 dispars, 1 evansi, 1 purple queen). They survived b/c they did eventually come out during feeding times, though they are not nearly as active during non-feeding times as the pre-bandit period. I did something stupid and picked up 6 central pacific anthias fro PIA last week. They immediately dove into the rocks. Just hoping that they'll eventually come out.
I believe the bandit is just too big for my tank. It's constantly pacing back and forth in my tank. Or maybe that's just what they do.
After a certain point, I just need to decide to either keep the bandit and forget about a tank full of anthias (sniff), or get rid of my bandit (sniff) and restock my anthias collection.
Decisions. Decisions.
bullitr
broke but happy
Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread
I can buy back the bandit so you can have 30 anthias again.
Maybe the regal is too big too !! Lol
Seriously your tank looks great but sometimes we can't get everything we want unless you build your 500 gallons then you can have it all and then some.
I can buy back the bandit
so you can have 30 anthias again. Maybe the regal is too big too !! Lol
Seriously your tank looks great but sometimes we can't get everything we want unless you build your 500 gallons
then you can have it all and then some.
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jadette
Member
I can buy back the bandit
Maybe the regal is too big too !! Lol
Seriously your tank looks great but sometimes we can't get everything we want unless you build your 500 gallons
My bandit, maybe... But never my pellet eating regal!
I was thinking about picking up one more angel. Maybe a multibar. I know they are difficult to keep, but I'm up for a challenge. Like I mentioned before, I am willing to try and keep the hard to keep alive b/c they are picky eaters fishies, but will steer clear of the tend to be disease prone and take down the rest of the tankmates fishies.
I also want another butterfly. I was going to pick up a declivis at PIA, but Kevin from PIA said that my tinkeri hybrid will most likely bully it.
So I was thinking of a copperband. Again, one of those "will die b/c they won't eat" type of fish.You know how I have two islands in my aquascape? Well, the corals are growing in such a way that you can't really see the empty space in btwn anymore. I'm at a point where I want to stay the heck with it and just fill up the center with corals too. If I do this, then I am going to install another MH fixture. Might just go with 3x250W instead of 2x400W. Wonder if the corals will rebel with the downgrade. Only time will tell (or a PAR meter which I have). Hmm.. Maybe. Might just do the switch this summer.
bullitr
broke but happy
My bandit, maybe... But never my pellet eating regal!
I was thinking about picking up one more angel. Maybe a multibar. I know they are difficult to keep, but I'm up for a challenge. Like I mentioned before, I am willing to try and keep the hard to keep alive b/c they are picky eaters fishies, but will steer clear of the tend to be disease prone and take down the rest of the tankmates fishies.
I also want another butterfly. I was going to pick up a declivis at PIA, but Kevin from PIA said that my tinkeri hybrid will most likely bully it.
You know how I have two islands in my aquascape? Well, the corals are growing in such a way that you can't really see the empty space in btwn anymore. I'm at a point where I want to stay the heck with it and just fill up the center with corals too. If I do this, then I am going to install another MH fixture. Might just go with 3x250W instead of 2x400W. Wonder if the corals will rebel with the downgrade. Only time will tell (or a PAR meter which I have). Hmm.. Maybe. Might just do the switch this summer.
i think maurutius mitratus is better.
3 250 watts is the way to go since the coverage will be a lot better.
your tank is only 18" tall so the par will be still be high.
what kind of reflector and ballast are you using?
jadette
Member
I'm using Lumenmax Elite reflectors. I designed my light fixture to be able to accommodate 3 of these. I just need to take out a couple of LED bars that I put in the center.
Hard to find a colorful mitratus. And of the roaops, they are the most aggressive. If I saw one though at a decent price, I would pick it up in a hearbeat!
Thanks Brent! I want to upgrade soooo badly though.
So here's a crappy video of my tank. Just wanted to show how my bandit is just pacing back and forth in my tank. Also see how my anthias get edgy when it approaches. I wonder if it's unhappy in my tank.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-O-P0hpH8is" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
solitude127
Proud user of IO Salt!
Any updates? How's the bandit doing?
billyzbear
Active member
Your tank looks awesome
jadette
Member
Hey Mike! My tank is doing ... okay... I guess. I'll be hitting the 3 year anniversary of putting water in this tank next month, so I guess I'm somewhat happy that I stuck with it for so long. I do feel like my tank is close to experiencing "old tank syndrome" and may need to reset it soon. There are several reasons why I feel this way.
My large SPS colonies are dying. Not all, but a handful of them. Oddly enough, the deaths are all around in the same location - where the corals are growing densely. I at first thought it may be some pest, but after removing a 2 gallon bucket full of slowly rtin-ing corals and rinsing them off, I didn't find a single bug or bite. It wouldn't make sense to have AEFW out of the blue anyway, since it has been ages since I introduced any new corals into my tank. I was baffled though, since the corals in other places in my tank were still doing well - some places much better than others though. I figured it was probably the lack of flow and light due to the corals growing so close together. I adjusted my vortech positions and added a tunze in the back of my tank. This seemed to help a little, but I now have no sand in certain places on the bottom of the tank which bugs me to no end. I don't know how people do it - get amazing flow in their tank without disrupting the sandbed. GRRRRRR.....!
At the end of the day, I lost about 5 large 7"+ colonies and about 3-4 medium colonies. Interestingly enough, after removing all of the dead or dying corals, my tank still looks full. Just goes to show how overcrowded it was in the first place, so I guess having a few losses here and there isn't really all that bad. I am a little sad though, because I lost 4 of my favorite colonies - my pink lemonade, oregon tort, strawberry shortcake, and Joe the coral.
I don't believe it was only the light and flow though. I believe the lack of light and flow weakened the corals which just sent out subliminal messages of "please eat me" to my not so reef safe fishies. My angels and butterflies sure went to town on any coral that showed signs of demise.
Surprisingly, I'm okay with that.
Which leads me to talk about my fishies.
I had mentioned earlier that my bandit was a spaz and it frightened my anthias to a point of starvation. I was also concerned that it seemed somewhat unsettled in my tank and I could not figure out why. He just looked too big for my tank. He was eating like a pig though, and had put on serious weight in the 2.5 months that I had him. I am saying "had" b/c he died out of the blue at the end of June. Stopped eating one day and died 3 days later. I have no idea why. And because I have no idea why, I will not attempt to raise another bandit until I get a better idea of what happened. What a punk. I thought bandits were difficult b/c they were picky eaters. I get a bandit that eats everything from pellets to pizza and it dies on me anyway. PUNK! This was the first non-anthias fish death in my tank since the spring of 2013.
Anyways, that death did make me throw myself into a state of depression and shock. I lived off of a diet of gummy bears and lo-cal gatorade until my heart was back into restocking again.
And boy did I restock!
I re-established my anthias collection, and picked up a multibar angel and another a couple of extra roaps butterflies to keep my tinkeri hybrid company. Lost one that I got from Live Aquaria (came in unhealthy, thin and did not eat), but everything else is doing well. The multibar is my current favorite. He is so cute! Constantly picking at my acros, but I forgive him. I don't know what he's eating. Don't really see him interested during feeding time, but who knows. I dump food by the liter in my tank every day to make sure everyone's happy so it's possible that he's eating some of it. All I know is that he is fatter now than when I got him 2 months ago, so I guess all is well. At least for now.
One good thing is, I've lost the desire to tinker with my tank. I haven't tried a new piece of equipment, or moved rocks around or done anything outside of water changes (which has dropped down to 10% every other week or so) in some time now.
I have even lost the desire to upgrade.
Thanks Billy! Though my tank has seen better days, I'm okay with how things have some what settled.
I wonder how many readers I've lost already with my long winded post.
Here are some pics to make my update not so worthless!
3/4 FTS shot:
My not so lemony lemondrop. It changes colors as frequently as my fondness for diet soda:
billyzbear
Active member
rtn is painful to watch. I to have had a couple die that way. Right now I'm having algae problems and of course I was messing with it and lost some livestock. Seems every summer I get an algae outbreak, pita.
I was thinking what's strange, remember when we traded some coral? I got a bubblegum milli. It lost the blue, slowly. It grew some and was doing good. I even fragged it. It now hasn't grown at all in like a year. Looks good, good polp extension but doesn't grow. I don't get it.
I was thinking what's strange, remember when we traded some coral? I got a bubblegum milli. It lost the blue, slowly. It grew some and was doing good. I even fragged it. It now hasn't grown at all in like a year. Looks good, good polp extension but doesn't grow. I don't get it.
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