My JBJ 28gal Nano Build Thread

Well I am glad I am guinea pigging for everyone!! LOL

Some updated pics from today. The crocea settled into the liverock, but turned the opposite direction from what I originally had in mind.
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No new additions planned for at least a few weeks, going to concentrate on the new FW planted tank for a bit to let the SW grow. Though, already planning a possible RKL due to some troubles with my mechanical light timer :)
 
bwidner said:
How is the clam doing?
Click to expand...

Looks like it's doing well, though it's still way to early to comment on long term success. I have a thread over in the clams forum and the experts there think the mantle extension and everything looks good. Will have to see how the next few months go.

I also threw in a couple nice pieces of SPS that my LFS got in today. Got an acro and I believe a monti but I am not really able to tell on the latter right now. I'll post pics tomorrow.

If I start to find that the CF lights aren't enough for the clam/SPS, I am just going to upgrade the lights rather than get rid of anything. Since I have the chiller now, I will either go with a 14k HQI + actinics or the NanoTuners Cree 5.6 LED kit.
 
Here is a shot of my new SPS additions. I have still yet to identify what the lower yellow piece is. I'm hoping the acro colors up in the next few weeks, it was brown with a green/blue tint when at the LFS so I know it's got potential.

IMG_0035.jpg


And an updated FTS and video of the tank to show progress. Caught the emerald crab eating a big bristle worm today, so it's nice to know they are useful for something besides eating coraline and knocking things over! :) Pretty big growth overall, but my elegance has been in a funk for a few days and staying pretty closed up with slime until a few hours after the lights come on, not sure what's going on there.

IMG_0018.jpg

 
Unfortunately, I lost my McCoskers yesterday. He acted funny for a little while on Sunday but snapped out of it, so I dismissed it. When I came home from work yesterday he was in real bad shape. Couldn't hold equilibrium, would just kinda spin around in circles. I did my research, and found many others had experienced this prognoses without advice on treatment or disease, and all seemed to have lost them. I talked to my trusty LFS owner, and he said I should do the humane thing and put it in a bag of ice water instead of rushing out to Walmart to purchase a 10g hospital tank. He would swim around in random circles bumping into things for about a minute, then would rest on the sand or rocks upside down or on his side for 10-15min intervals.

I tested all my water parms and everything was exactly where it's been for months, and the rest of the tank was going about its business as usual. After a couple hours of deliberation, I decided to save the poor guy the suffering and let him go the peaceful way. In his state at the end, the emerald or CBS surely would have made a live meal out of him, and I didn't want to risk spreading any disease in the tank.

This is what he looked like:
 
After losing the McCoskers earlier this week and my addition of a ric colony last week, I decided not too add anything else for a while and just let things grow out. I heard about this shop in a fairly bad part of town, and decided to stop by today not expecting much. Much to my dismay, when I walked in it was like a SW paradise! By far the best selection of healthy fish and amazing corals in town. AND, they stock ORA stuff that I have had a fetish with for a while! Prices are very decent also.

I thought maybe the ORA pictures on their site were manufactured, but the corals look even better in person, even under T5 lighting! I couldn't resist the urge to get a couple of birdsnests that I had been drooling over for a while. Now the key is to not go back in there, because they have a full selection of stylo, acro, and monti ORA frags. If I do make another trip there, I may end up going 100% SPS and upgrading lights to a 150w HQI with 2x24w actinic T5's to grow it all :)

ORA Hyacinth Birdsnest:
IMG_0043_LR3.jpg


ORA Green Birdsnest:
IMG_0039_LR3.jpg


FTS (don't mind the ice acro in front, I am trying to restore it for someone that had it in sub-par conditions, though it looks like a lost cause)
:
DSC_0309_LR3.jpg


Ric Garden (PITA to glue them, gel ethyl CA FTW!):
IMG_0040_LR3.jpg


Blue Electric Crocea Clam, still looking good after a month:
IMG_0044_LR3.jpg


All SPS Shot:
DSC_0310_LR3.jpg
 
bwidner said:
Looks like you got pretty lucky with those ric's, really nice coloring and multiple of them already splitting.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. My trusty LFS has done really well with special orders for me, everytime I ask him to get something (like the crocea, rics, etc) they come in and look pretty incredible!

I counted 19 heads with a bunch of color variety, and walked out of the shop for $130. What a steal!
 
Wow that is a steal, only one of the LFS that I visit has ric's that arent ridiculously priced however their color selection isn't always the best, the multi colored are hard to catch there without there being 4 or more of the exact same on a small rock. I had the exact same thing happen, had no intentions of SPS until I went to a fairly new LFS and thats what they are going to specialize in

I fully expected the first acro I picked up to be verry happy and grow but have been amazed by how well its thrived, I really wish I had a par meter because I really think that these PCs are a lot better than we give credit too...the blueberry muffin monti frag I have halfway down in the tank is really growing well and starting to look really nice with great PE, and the acro is growing like crazy while the monti cap that I have had for two weeks is starting to show some noticable growth. Honestly if not for the heat I would be giving the PCs more of a go to see how they do at all depths.
 
I decided to rescape the tank today. I was tired of things getting knocked over and having to fix them all the time, so I am looking for something a little more permanent. Went down to my local hobby shop and picked up some gel Ethly Cyanoacrylate (aka. superglue but a less toxic version then the common butyl CA). This stuff is great, any reefer should have a tube (and it's about 70% cheaper at a hobby shop then an LFS)!

Also wanted to make room for the inevitable 2-3 ORA SPS frags at the LFS that are going to be at home here soon enough, no matter how much I try to control myself. I had to remove some rock, but end result is a nice high mantle with varying flow. What do yall think?

IMAG0359.jpg


Oh, and the silver xenia is insane, I just moved it and it's already jumping off it's plug onto the rock, it moves quicker than a nem!
IMAG0361.jpg
 
So I accidentally stopped by the new ORA dealing LFS on the way home today, and of course ended up getting a couple of frags. After much debate, I went with the two stylo frags, green and purple..

It's not my final placement and they aren't glued in yet so the purple fell over, but I am continually impressed by how quickly these ORA frags open up once in the tank. Normally, my LPS and softies take a good 2-3 days to look decent, and my acro took over a week to turn from BROWN to a green shimmer (though the pocillopora always looks nice).

The pic really doesn't do it justice at this point. The green birdsnest looks washed out, so I am going to move it back further into the actinics to make it pop. The "green" stylo I got is about half purple, so it's very interesting, and will move forward into the 10,000k spot the green birds currently sits in..

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