Maroun 150g Build Thread

yes they are.
Guess we'll have to wait and see when their corals aquarium mature and grow up how they'll endup.

Went back with these from Dubai:

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and for sure my son would always assist in unpacking newcommers:
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Xenia first time in 10 years xenia makes it through in shipment and past few days in my tank. it was a big piece and broke in 4 pieces 2 of which went to the tank and 2 to the frag tank.

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It wasn't pulsing at the store and IU thoght this would be a non pulsing type of xenia. however 2 days later when it was pulsing in my tank.

not sure of the ID but it was sold to me as kenya tree. also it broke in 3 small pieces.

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a clam that looked fine for 1-2 weeks after I got it then inone day found it on the sand with the fish eating it. I'm suspecting that my twin spot wrasses have grown enough to pause a threat on clams and shrimps in the tank so they'll be soon out.
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a nice piece of Zoos mich bigger than this but I broke down few pieces to the frag tank.

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I believe this will be my last soft coral addition to the tank if not the start of taking some off as I would like to focus more on LPS and SPS
 
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also found some pepermint shrimps which I shared with a friend with some aptasia in his tank.
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they looked a bit pale after shipping stress but colored up nicely afterwards.

Last and best addition was this marron clows for the female I have. she seems a bit picky about makes and literaly shredded the fins of a previous male I got on two trials.

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he headed straight towards her and did the submission shivering moves to perfection
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she did rush on him but was noticably less agressive than with the first male.
one day later he was inher anemone.

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And a kiss on the cheek which is typical of only maroon clown I guess

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weirdly she kissed him on the cheek on few occasions too which I never saw in my previous couple. it's actually weird to think that my old male of that couple has now become the female. it'll be a bit weirder to see her laying eggs after having seen it fertilizing them. I'm hoping it won't be too late for them to start spawining as I see them cleaning a rock clsoe to the anemone aggressively.
 
Thanks Mitch Actually those were catched on the fly just before I travelled and they're not the best. FWIW I'm shooting with a now old D70s with following lenses: 17-50 2.8, 50 mm 1.4,18-200VR Camera is 6.2 MP but that's not the important factor as lense quality, appropriate shutter speed and aperture, lighting, being square to the glass, and especially a tripod or other form of stabilisation are much more important. Some better shots for you
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I somehow forgot to post those pics but few weeks ago a scroll coral (which at the time was not doing well in it's location and shortly after i put it in better position) and a tube worm spawned. I only noticed it because I was looking at the tank so no cloudy water.... I watched the tank for 2-3 hours and no other corals or clams did the same. however those two corals kept shooting these for aroud 45 min.

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all the fish had special interest in what was happening:

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Some pests I removed last couple of weeks.

Welk, so far I've removed 5 of those.

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this one came with some corals and I caught it in the introduction tank.

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This one is one of two I've been trying to catch since one year with traps and even pulling out some rocks I thought he was in. with no success so far. This time I found him on my millepora at nigh time. first catch came out with a single arm (that's why he's missing it) then had to follow him in the rocks before he disappears and manged to take it all out.

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Still on waiting list is the owner of this claw that I've been following since 1 year. squuezed him against a rock once and when I tried to reposition my tweezer to catch him he disappeared and another time I pulled out a claw


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Galaxea: Don't put it in your tank unless you have the space for it. This thing got a nast sting and somehow it manages to find the smallest coral next to it and nuke it. once its sweepers attacht o a coral even the counter flow would not detach it.
and they do have long streamers.


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this is how much space I kept corals away from it and even with dead corals in the middle it managed to sting fartwher away ones.


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So I had to reloacte it to the back lt side of the tank.
Pics before and after
Full tank pre

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lt tank pre
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tank pics post moving it

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Heres where it went and immediatey swwepers were out. notice how much nicer that smaller one looks and the only difference is less flow less light on it.
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This coral was very big and swinged very nicely with the current. Everyone who saw my tank after the move said it looked very still and empty. This front rock will now be kept for SPS and hopefully it'll fill up quickly.

While moving all those corals I broke my fastest growing coral a birdnest 2-3 mm bud that I accidentally broke and fixed on a plug.
it grew and branched to this in mid Dec


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Mid Feb

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Broke it two pieces which I epoxyed
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Weirdly the second one STN'd couple of days after
 
Thanks Hawkfishman

After Dubai my following trip was to Cleveland USA. It had been 1 year I haven't been to the states and had load of things to see and buy.
So to start with around 25 hours trip 3 flights 2 connections.
a severe change in temperature going from this

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to this for a complete week with 3 days of severe rain and snow

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temp difference was around 30 degrees celsius which is too much and the warmest day in cleveland was -5 degrees celsius...
Still it was a great trip. I had the occasion of going to the Csea meeting and met some great friends there:
TJ, Kevin, Matt, Steeve and lots of others...
Got some pics at salty critter which had the nicest collection of frags and a ver decent equipment variety not to mention great customer service and knowledge. Dan was very helpful and patient answering many many questions and giving sound advice on choices.
took these pics in there:

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I had preordered load of stuff before I flied thinking they would arrive while i'm there. to my surprise everything was there while i was checking in. the hotel receptionist was shocked with the amount of packages I received.

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Guess the most important stuff from what I got was the DI as I can't find it around here. Ordered it from Marc with 2 replacement units and ws happily surprised to find 3 delivered as the unit came with one in it guess I'm Ok with DI for 1-2 years now.
A full batch of Salifert tests to compliment what I have with spare for Ca Alk and MG. A Vortech MP40 which proved to be a great add on Thanks for Recommending it Marc. Unfortunately I couldn't get a battery for it as theyre not allowed on planes... Fraggin equipment is to frag whatever SPS corals I get in case I lose some for whatever reason. and plumbing and glass holding devices are for a coming project.
I also ordered a new skimmer and some other stuff that I will be picking up on my next trip to cleveland which is this week.
 
as if Murphi knew I was getting a pump my CL loop shatetred the impeller and shaft while Iwas in cleveland and Ihad to guide my wife to disconnect the cables of hte pump and the Oceans motion on the phone.

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tank made it with the return pump. a small Seio my second CL alone. I connected the Vortech and had acceptable flow hoever I now have to wait till I get the replacement to see how my flow will be. tried to glue the impeller as i couldn't find any but it shattered the second I run the pump. No decent replacement pump was available so I have to wait 3 weeks if I need to replace the whole pump. Luckily as I was coming back to cleveland the week after I should be getting it friday and flying back with it on Sunday to see the final flow.
 
One last Good/Bad news
We found a nice appartment just next to our bulding and already signed the contract to buy it, however its still being build and will not be ready before 1 year and I have to evict my appartment mid April which means the tank will have to be moved to my parents house for a year to be moved back again in one year when the appartment will be ready.
I already experienced how ugly a move is last year and my plan is the following:
-my 80 G is being taken appart and siliconed.
-I'm gluing a 30 G tank myself (rimless)
-my current frag tank
will act as holding tanks, they'll be connected and will hold all my corals and fish. I'll have my new skimmer hooked on them. rocks and sand and stand will be moved and assmebled. have to change the plumbing to the sump to allow for an ATO to be placed.
Sand will be lightly rinsed in saltwater as it's failry new (less than 1 year) when tank is assembled with sand and rock in I'll run my 2 existing skimmers on it for few days then I will make a big waterchange and start bringing in the corals and fish. Any tips and advices will be greatly appreciated.
 
Anemone split question?

As mentioned before 2 weeks ago my closed loop pump failed for a week and tank was running on pretty low slow, followed by adding a vortech which upped the flow a lot. couple of days later my anemone moved to the middle of the rockwork and I thought it was just bothered by the flow.
However A small indentation started to appear:
on the anemones right side near the zoos
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indentation increased and anemone started stretching:
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a second smaller foot appeared (harder to see because of the angle)
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Anemone streatching more

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The 2 feet can be seen here:

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still more stretch:

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At this stage I said that's it it's splitting
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hi maroun ,
very nice thread so far , whish i have the time to make a thread for my next tank , i just admire your dedication !!
 
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