My 65 Gallon Mixed Reef

[biggles]

Yes Marty it's fluoro bloody green........... sometimes you gotta sacrifice good colors for the terror factor of hydno's mate. It's a bit like dropping a green grenade in the tank with the pin pulled tbh.......

Added a couple more pounds of new sand to the front to see if it helps keep things a bit more stable, it's a tad bright at the moment and the water is still a bit cloudy. The yellow tang discovered my red macro algae in the display is yummy - that's the end of my red splash of color This is why i tell you all that fish are basically annoying bastards.........:deadhorse:

 

[martinphillip03]

I heard it is really hard to get these fish to eat prepared foods. If they aren't eating, I would like to know how you get them eating.

Marty

Pair of banggai's - always wanted to try these but never have so i finally took the plunge. They look super cool hanging out under the overhanging acros.

/QUOTE]

 

[biggles]

I had the LFS guy feed the fish flake food in front of me and both gobbled it up. They were in the shop holding tank for over two weeks and he said they ate frozen mysis as well. I fed a cube of mysis yesterday and both of them ate all they could fit in their bellies They also eat the cyclop-eeze bits that aren't dissolved into a mist when i feed the corals but ignore the small pellet food the other fish like - the yellow tang ignored it for the first week but now gobbles it up with the clown so i expect they'll cotton on to the fact it's yummy soon enough.

Here's a better pic of the little rock outcrop i made up for the new table, think it's a hyacinthus that was in high flow as the branches are almost totally fused into a solid plate. There's a piece of 1/4" acrylic sheet glued to the flat cut base of the rock that extends out about 2" under the acro to counter lever the whole thing and prevent it simply toppling forward.
I stuck a SSC frag on the top of the rock and three frags of the blue tipped acro colony over on the far right of the display have been glued low on the sides and back so hopefully i'll end up with a pink acro surrounded by blue tip acros - that's the theory anyway.

I popped the horrida branch off the raft and laid it down pointing backwards as i wanted to point the modded 6025 directly at the new table to give it lots of flow and the horrida was directly in the line of water flow so that needed a placement adjustment. All the food i added during the feeding tests has spiked the phos up to 0.08. I discovered that when i saw my alk begin rising from 7.8 up to 8.6, i knew the corals were dropping intake so a quick check confirmed why. I should have guessed when i started seeing more green algae on the glass than the regular brown stuff. 1/2 cup of fresh GFO is in the sump and will be removed once i get the phos back down to zero or near it on the Hanna. Most of the acros are a little poopy but they'll get over it soon enough.

 

[biggles]

Since i had a day off and had already attacked the reef yet again i figured i'd fix something that had been annoying me for months. That insanely saturated purple prostrata at the front was mounted too high and too upright to see the real beauty of its colors so.............. out came the bonsai branch cutters.

Took a snap of him out of the tank

30 seconds later and he's super glued into a crevice after having his base dremelled so he fit snugly and at a much more horizontal angle for viewing, 2" off the bottom. You can see the branch colors as the polyps are totally withdrawn........ no idea why tbh. You don't see those gorgeous reddy pink tips normally as the polyps pretty much mask them 24/7. I'm going with the prostrata ID over a milli due to the growth pattern more than anything so i could be totally wrong lol. You can see the stump above it where it was cut from - more space for another acro methinks......
You can see what the bloody tang has done to my red macro algae - bastard. :deadhorse1:

 

[Bello]

Hmm, and you were calling me sneaky

Wonder if the Banggai's will reproduce? Is it a mated pair? It'll be pretty cool if they do, and you'll have another 20 more fish to feed .... Maybe you can trade in fish for coral :lol:

No luck sourcing the Multibar as yet? I do like the Colini as well... Haven't seen them in many tanks at all....Its colours would compliment your tank for sure..

That purple prostrata is probably my favourite among all your corals, more than even the SSC (don't accuse me of blasphemy)....just gorgeous :thumbsup:

So you came out of the green coral closet, and bought a Hydnopora, eh? Its hard to resist their fluoro colors, among the most brilliant of the greens IMO. Hopefully, he'll play nice with the rest of the sps.

I like the new raft, but is the new tabling piece similar to the old one? I can't seem to differentiate at the moment....

And how the hell do you manage to have low nutrients, despite feeding like you do?

 

[martinphillip03]

I think Bigs has a love hate relationship with green corals. As much as he wants to hate them he loves to buy and display them. Next thing you know there will be a couple of brown turds in his tank.

Marty

So you came out of the green coral closet, and bought a Hydnopora, eh? Its hard to resist their fluoro colors, among the most brilliant of the greens IMO. Hopefully, he'll play nice with the rest of the sps.

 

[Bello]

Hahaha, he's gonna come out swinging now :lol:

What do you say, biggles? Shall I send you the turds ?

 

[BryceHS]

Biggles your tank is looking outstanding

 

[biggles]

Hmm, and you were calling me sneaky

Wonder if the Banggai's will reproduce? Is it a mated pair? It'll be pretty cool if they do, and you'll have another 20 more fish to feed .... Maybe you can trade in fish for coral :lol:

No luck sourcing the Multibar as yet? I do like the Colini as well... Haven't seen them in many tanks at all....Its colours would compliment your tank for sure..

That purple prostrata is probably my favourite among all your corals, more than even the SSC (don't accuse me of blasphemy)....just gorgeous :thumbsup:

So you came out of the green coral closet, and bought a Hydnopora, eh? Its hard to resist their fluoro colors, among the most brilliant of the greens IMO. Hopefully, he'll play nice with the rest of the sps.

I like the new raft, but is the new tabling piece similar to the old one? I can't seem to differentiate at the moment....

And how the hell do you manage to have low nutrients, despite feeding like you do?

Hey ho mate. I don't think those fish are mated because one now hangs alone on the right end of the tank and the other on the far left lol.
Still haven't found my angel but i'm going to get him Bello, he's the last fish and then another skunk and a blood shrimp and i'm done stocking things that poo everywhere
As i said earlier i always spot a nice fluoro hydnophora and stupidly get it..... it's not a matter of if he misbehaves but when tbh lol. The green monster acro is a nasty stinging bastard of a coral too which is no surprise being green....
I have no idea what the new table is but i'll wait and see what it does color wise where i have it before i decide it's fate. I'll ask Jason for an ID when i take a few closeups of it and find out if it's the same as the red table i already have. It's pretty ugly and brown atm and has poor PE still which is no surprise as i got it at a store i don't go to normally and it was the only SPS piece for sale.
I've halved my coral feeding as i have bloody nutrients now thanks to my feeding experiments lol. Phos is 0.05-06 so the corals and i still aren't happy so i'm leaving the GFO in the sump until i bottom it out and then i'll increase the feed numbers each day again.

I think Bigs has a love hate relationship with green corals. As much as he wants to hate them he loves to buy and display them. Next thing you know there will be a couple of brown turds in his tank.

Marty

It's a sad fact Marty that in order to best show off colorful acros you need to keep the back glass clean AND include green corals to make the non green acros look twice as beautiful !
Bello is the turd man Marty, he loves his tanks to look like they're plumbed into his house sewerage line..........:lol2:

Hahaha, he's gonna come out swinging now :lol:

What do you say, biggles? Shall I send you the turds ?

Umm no thanks Bello.....and don't be telling Troub that he needs those mobile poo ornaments either. :lmao:

Biggles your tank is looking outstanding

Thanks Bryce, it's getting there and just needs time more than anything to look nice and grown in.

I decided to put everything where i wanted it and get it all over with today so the big blue stag came off the top of the arch and went on the back of the raft - stag city there now lol. The red stag that was there and not growing at all went up top near the weir and will hopefully lift it's game in much higher light. I now have room on top of the arch for 3-4 more acros Bello so you better get ready for more incoming mate......:beer:

 

[Bello]

So you're saying you don't want the turds? , Pity.......

The Banggai story sounds a lot like my experience with Pyjama Cardinals. Bought 4, two were knocked off by the others, and the remaining two spent the next 2 years chasing each other in my 7 foot tank, till I sold them off.

So more acros, eh? Biggles, I think you're gonna run out of space in your sump too ...better get cracking on the peninsula...

I'd interested on that tabling acro id though, not very keen on hydno's that much. Given that its a headache for me to get nice frags, and the fact that I'll probably take a risk with adding angels at some point, adding a hydno for me is a bit too much risk.

Dunno if I mentioned this before, but when adding any angel, I usually put them in a tank with a shrimp in it, since I feel that it makes them comfortable and reduces stress. Dunno how far that's true, just what I do

Looks like I jinxed you with the nutrient question biggles :lol:, how's the fts look with the new raft?

 

[biggles]

Yes Bello, i'm going to run turdless for now thanks mate.......
The fish hate each other and one of them is standing up to the yellow tang which is driving him nuts lol - he's quite the frustrated tank dictator at the moment so that's entertaining at least.
Are you saying i should put the multibar in the sump tank with a new skunk or do you mean Potatohead in the display - he's likely to jump on it and scare it to death i think :facepalm: The clown still watches him out of the corner of his eye..........
I should have defrosted and washed the mysis - now i remember the bit about phos in the frozen water and why i used to wash them first.......... bloody bloody bloody :hammer:

Check out the big open spot right of the red table now - you can actually see through to the back rock more too....... not for bloody long Bello - i'm going to my favorite acro store this weekend :strooper:

Twilight on the right side - i gotta stop snapping new growth off and sticking it elsewhere lol. I've gone a bit fluoro lime nuts lately and the horrida grows like a weed so it's getting snapped a bit too........ doesn't pay to be a growth show off in biggles reef, just gets you snapped and spread......
The SSC frags are all finally kicking into gear at last - needless to say there will be a ridiculous amount of this acro all over my reef Oh i dropped that little purple tipped colony down beside the purple prostrata too as the frags down low color up way better - that's why it pays to make a few small frags of new stuff and try it in a few different places :thumbsup: The blue stag i stabbed the green monster with is coloring up very nicely and starting to show growth tips.

 

[martinphillip03]

Looks very nice.

Marty

 

[Bello]

:lol: your tank inhabitants are living out a hollywood soap opera...

I'd think for the Multibar, depending on how long its been at the LFS, would be best treated by placing him in the sump, lights running a little dimmer, lots of rockwork, and probably one of the cardinals for company.... at least that's what I do

A shrimp would be great, but we've already established that Potatohead is schizophrenic, so now what? ...Time for new shrimp? :lol:

I'd like to see the acors grow out now :thumbsup:.....(this is a sneaky way of ensuring that you don't buy more acros )

Btw, noting that your prostrata is placed in lower light, wondering if should move my problem millies....can't hurt right?

 

[Quintis]

Looking amazing as usual Biggles! Your colors are so goood. I'm getting very close on my set-up.

 

[troubadour11]

So I know one thing... I hope the Christmas lights I'm building for my tank are as colorful as your reef! :thumbsup: :lol2: It's continuing to look great!

Sorry I haven't been popping in as often to reassure you that your tank is brilliant :love2: 'Cause it's looking great!!! I've just been living at work. This project got extended... AGAIN... Hopefully I can cut back on the overtime now and get some free time back. We will see...

I saw a few posts ago where you chopped and relocated your "insanely saturated purple prostrata." I think you've previously mentioned the dremel tools you use to trim/cut/shape your bases or cuts. If you're up to it, I'd be interested in a few more "work in progress" shots or a video of repositioning or dremeling the cuts. The next time you're dabbling with some reef bonsai or whenever. I'm still nowhere close to getting to trimming corals yet and have never done it. But I would love to see some more info on trimming techniques or what have you.

I think I missed something since I've been buried in work. What TURDS are you two talking about sending back and forth and keeping from me? LOL :lol: I probably just missed it in one of your threads and will find it today as I'm trying to catch up.

And I'm really interested to hear what you think of the Banggai Cardinals you picked up. We've been bouncing around looking into our stocking list a little more lately. We are thinking about maybe trying a small group of Baggai Cardinals. I'm sure we'll end up with lots of color in the tank eventually. So we've been thinking about using them to add a small group but big splash of silver/black to the tank. The potential for mouth brooding has my wife really interested in them right now.

:beachbum:

 

[BryceHS]

Saw this tank in person yesterday and I must say it is just amazing, and thanks for the frags biggles.

 

[biggles]

Looks very nice.

Marty

Thanks Marty, appreciate it mate.

your tank inhabitants are living out a hollywood soap opera...

I'd think for the Multibar, depending on how long its been at the LFS, would be best treated by placing him in the sump, lights running a little dimmer, lots of rockwork, and probably one of the cardinals for company.... at least that's what I do

A shrimp would be great, but we've already established that Potatohead is schizophrenic, so now what?...Time for new shrimp?

I'd like to see the acors grow out now :thumbsup:.....(this is a sneaky way of ensuring that you don't buy more acros )

Btw, noting that your prostrata is placed in lower light, wondering if should move my problem millies....can't hurt right?

Thanks for the mulitbar info mate, i think i'll put him in the sump tank to begin with so he can settle in peace for a while. Dunno about shelling out for another bloody gold plated shrimp to help him settle in........ he can just be a loner angel for a while i think.
About the no more acro buying........ best stop reading now Bello :fun2:

Looking amazing as usual Biggles! Your colors are so goood. I'm getting very close on my set-up.

I saw how close you were now mate, your setup is looking great and i'm looking forward to following along since you're a fellow radium worshipper lol. Best screen the tank to stop acros jumping at the bulbs.......

So I know one thing... I hope the Christmas lights I'm building for my tank are as colorful as your reef! :thumbsup: :lol2: It's continuing to look great!

Sorry I haven't been popping in as often to reassure you that your tank is brilliant 'Cause it's looking great!!! I've just been living at work. This project got extended... AGAIN... Hopefully I can cut back on the overtime now and get some free time back. We will see...

I saw a few posts ago where you chopped and relocated your "insanely saturated purple prostrata." I think you've previously mentioned the dremel tools you use to trim/cut/shape your bases or cuts. If you're up to it, I'd be interested in a few more "work in progress" shots or a video of repositioning or dremeling the cuts. The next time you're dabbling with some reef bonsai or whenever. I'm still nowhere close to getting to trimming corals yet and have never done it. But I would love to see some more info on trimming techniques or what have you.

I think I missed something since I've been buried in work. What TURDS are you two talking about sending back and forth and keeping from me? LOL I probably just missed it in one of your threads and will find it today as I'm trying to catch up.

And I'm really interested to hear what you think of the Banggai Cardinals you picked up. We've been bouncing around looking into our stocking list a little more lately. We are thinking about maybe trying a small group of Baggai Cardinals. I'm sure we'll end up with lots of color in the tank eventually. So we've been thinking about using them to add a small group but big splash of silver/black to the tank. The potential for mouth brooding has my wife really interested in them right now.

Hey, Troub thanks for the kind words buddy. I'll take some pics of a few dremel jobs for you next time i'm in a 'creative' mood so you can see how cool a tool it is for SPS work.
The turds are Bello's disgusting black cukes, that or he lets his pet Shetland pony hang out too close the tanks........... i'm still not convinced they're really salt water creatures tbh.......
The banggais look really cool, much more so than i thought they would. Mine i assume are both males considering they hate each others guts and can't get far enough away from each other. I've bred cichlids and the mouth brooding is very cool so i think if you are interested in marines breeding or trying to then you and your better half (in case she reads this) won't be disappointed. :thumbsup:

I was first in the door last Saturday morning at my LFS for a change........ 3 acros and what i hope is a purple or deep red stylo rather than just pink. That new table is not looking too great color wise down low so far..... looks more brown than when i got it so might have to use it for my dremel tutorial i think..........

 

[biggles]

Saw this tank in person yesterday and I must say it is just amazing, and thanks for the frags biggles.

Hey Bryce, was really nice to meet you mate and those nice frags you bought me are happily sunning under the radium I'm certain all those frags will think they're on holidays in your tank after being rescued from my sump lol. :beer:
I want all the stolen pod hitchhikers back next visit btw............ i counted at least 30 missing at critter roll call........

 

[moze229]

Well, I guess I need to move to Australia so that I have access to Biggles' sump. Lol

 

[Bello]

Well, I guess I need to move to Australia so that I have access to Biggles' sump. Lol

You and me both

Hmm, biggles, are you gonna have dining in your in-tank restaurant?? Then what the hell you doing with so many tables?

I knew you'd be up to no good this weekend ...so 3 acros?? or hiding something else too?.... I like the 2 smaller pieces, especially the thick branched blue/purple tipped one....never seen anything like it.... sigh, didn't know you were a SPS p0rn distributor ....shame on you

So more rafts, or some sps gymnastics on the main structure?