Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

I keep calling those mini-colonies above "aquaculture", but they are maricultured. I should know better since I was involved with MO aquaculture for some years.

Nice corals Mindy. And great pics

Thanks Doug.

Great frags you got there! Good to see you Canadians are helping each other out!

Thank you Joe. Us Canadians have quite the frag trading network. It's certainly not hard to find frags around here.

 

[Myka]

I added a Panamic Barnacle Blenny today and might get a few more. I added a sock to catch him in the sump.

I also picked up a few assorted snails to beef up the CUC a bit.

I ordered some Flame Anthias too (Pseudanthias ignitus). I will get some brine shrimp on the boiler and order up some blackworms. I jave a QT set up for them and will worm them after I get them eating before putting them in the display.

I'm working on my BFC since it's currently a mere 0.62.

 

[biggles]

Those pics are awesome Mindy, great work and i'm liking the colors on your new frags. You have to expect a few of them to have a small dummy spit over being manhandled etc, i'm sure a few weeks from now they'll be settling right into their new home.
I actually think your Montipora crapitata piece looks really cool and if you're really attached to it you should keep it.......... i find such montis respond well to direct feeds of reef roids after dark. Simply mix a pinch of roids into a cup of boiling hot RO and use a syringe to literally force feed the monti the warm reef roid soup. Give it a try i'm certain you'll be shocked at how immediate the response is, literally seconds. :thumbsup:

I'm working on my BFC since it's currently a mere 0.62.

I should think so Mindy, i should think so............:reading:

 

[Myka]

Yeah the frags are doing quite excellent Andrew! Some are obviously (and understandably) more sensitive than others. Some look like nothing ever happened. I got more goodies too - just have to photograph them.

I will follow your advice on the Montipora crapitata to the tee, and if I get excellent response from the coral with improved color and growth rate then I will send you my whole giant frag of the Green Dragon and I will even pay for permits and shipping. Since you know how sexy this coral is, you will understand the significance of my appreciation for your outstanding contribution to the flourishment of the crapitata. :beer:

I think the Anthias should each count for three fish in the BFC since they will need to be fed 50x per day. This will immediately bring my BFC up to 3.08 including the new super pooper extra large Panamic Barnacle Blenny.

 

[Myka]

More goodies from a friend's tank. He decided to remove most of his SPS in favor of LPS (crazy talk!). I took advantage of his weakness!

Sorry...my pics suck. I'll turn down the blue T5s on the next try.

Garf Bonsai

Hawkins Echinata

Unidentified mariculture piece

Setosa

Maricultured "red dragon"

 

[Flatlander]

Nice.....Now I want to go find more frags. :lol:

 

[Myka]

Doug, two letters: "CM"

Things have been super crazy around here. I have GST and PST (Canadian business taxes) due at the end of the month, and my accounting program wouldn't open. If I lost all the info since the last backup (May), it would have taken probably 8 hours of data entry. It took me a week (because I haven't had many spurts of time to work on it), but I finally managed to get the stupid program to open and it didn't even lose any data! A couple clients have been high-maintenance the last couple weeks (lol), plus some extra tank sitting jobs. I was doing the PADI Open Water course last weekend, and in a couple hours I'm headed off to a lake a few hours away to spend the weekend doing open water dives to finish up the course. I'm a moderator on another reef forum, and I'm also working on a few new projects for that forum too. I finally tore down the former 50-gallon tank. I'd like to sell it ASAP, but I haven't even cleaned it so the pics look terrible in my ad.

The new tank really needs some attention, the to do list is large. I just hooked up the ATO today because I couldn't get into the top off reservoir until the 50-gallon was moved away. I finally adjusted the overflow pipes in the back chamber of the tank (they were too short). I tested ca/alk, did a water change, and dosed Prodibio. I still have to get the powerbars mounted and the cords all tucked away nicely. I still need to modify the light hanger brackets that I have, and get them mounted so I can hang the light. I need more flow in the tank, but a friend is selling me a couple 6055, so that will cover that. I also need to sell the last of the LPS and softies that are in the tank. I need to mount all the SPS and get that stupid frag rack out of there too. I'm also leaning towards putting sand in the tank because I really want a Blue Spot Jawfish and I don't want to re-home my Pistol Shrimp. The LFS has a whole herd of Blue Spots that are doing really well too. *sigh*

 

[cugly]

This is the aquacultured Mille that showed up with most of its zooxanthellae expelled a couple weeks ago. I don't see any green sheen anymore (yay). Looks like it will be blue, pink, purple.

This is another aquacultured piece I picked up at the same time. The branched were a rich forest green with blue tips. It's bleaching a bit, so maybe I have it in too much light. It's about 1/3 up the tank. I'm not sure what species it is - some sort of deepwater.

This is Montipora capitata that I've had for a couple years. I like it, so it's staying for now even though it's a Monti.

This is some sort of tabling Acro that came in on consignment at the LFS. There were some big chunks, but I just wanted a small chunk so I don't get weird growth pattern changes. I'm hoping it has more color to it, but I haven't seen any changes yet and I've had it about a month.

This is a weed that isn't going to be staying in the tank.

This was a nice surprise - I picked it up as a skin flap frag that was totally browned out and I had no idea what it was. It it super sensitive to alkalinity swings, and there were a couple low alkalinity issues not long before the tank transfer. I almost lost it. The green is normally a really deep green with neon magenta corallites. Some sort of SSC. It's been my favourite for a long time, but it grows painfully slow It's 2 years old.

Wow they look great i have a very similar rainbow mille that has similar colors but the red polyps on mine is taking over. Where did you get them from. Looks very healthy.

 

[westreef]

I just love the Millie on the first picture. You did a great job reviving it to such a beauty.:beer:

 

[reefmutt]

Love the pics and the new coral!
Everything looks really healthy.
I really like that mystery deep water..
I'd try it a bit lower..

 

[Myka]

Wow they look great i have a very similar rainbow mille that has similar colors but the red polyps on mine is taking over. Where did you get them from. Looks very healthy.

Those are maricultured pieces that I got from the LFS. That Mille is definitely turning out to be a nice piece. Got a pic of yours?

I just love the Millie on the first picture. You did a great job reviving it to such a beauty.:beer:

Thanks! It bounced back much faster than I expected. I'm excited to see how it might look in 6 months.

Love the pics and the new coral!
Everything looks really healthy.
I really like that mystery deep water..
I'd try it a bit lower..

I have since moved it to the bottom of the tank in a semi-shady area. It's still lightening up/browning out.

 

[Myka]

So I figured the frags could handle being epoxied onto the rock now, so I went ahead and did that (until I ran out of epoxy) on Friday. I was away for the weekend, and I came back to the frags being mad. The skimmer was fine on Friday, but was going crazy when I got home Sunday. It still isn't back to normal. I only used 6 epoxy balls about the size of a small marble. Some of the frags didn't mind the manhandling, but a few of them were very stressed including the Green Dragon. The GD finally RTN'd last night, and the bottom half of the Christmas Hyacinthus also RTN'd. Hopefully it is done with that, and will recover, but I won't be surprised if it's all gone tomorrow. What's left of it has nice PE. :lol: What's a SPS tank with out a little RTN here and there? :mad2:

 

[Oldude]

So I figured the frags could handle being epoxied onto the rock now, so I went ahead and did that (until I ran out of epoxy) on Friday. I was away for the weekend, and I came back to the frags being mad. The skimmer was fine on Friday, but was going crazy when I got home Sunday. It still isn't back to normal. I only used 6 epoxy balls about the size of a small marble. Some of the frags didn't mind the manhandling, but a few of them were very stressed including the Green Dragon. The GD finally RTN'd last night, and the bottom half of the Christmas Hyacinthus also RTN'd. Hopefully it is done with that, and will recover, but I won't be surprised if it's all gone tomorrow. What's left of it has nice PE. :lol: What's a SPS tank with out a little RTN here and there? :mad2:

Oh no! Keep me posted and I'll replace them.

 

[sahin]

Those are some awesome SPS pieces...shame about the RTN on some of them. Hope things recover fast.

 

[reefmutt]

Ouch! That sucks but yes, a new tank and a bunch of new additions.. Odds are something will not be happy..
I've always used cyanoacrylate glue for gluing frags.. I find it much less labour intensive, quicker and doesn't affect the system as much..

 

[Myka]

The rest of the Christmas Hyacinthus finished RTN'ing last night as I figured it would. I've never had a reaction this severe to using epoxy, and I really didn't use a lot. I'm just happy they are frags and not colonies. :spin2:

Oh no! Keep me posted and I'll replace them.

Hey Greg, I really appreciate your gesture, but it's not your fault. I'm not sure it's my faulty either. It's just one of those things. :beer:

Those are some awesome SPS pieces...shame about the RTN on some of them. Hope things recover fast.

Thanks Sahin. At least they are easily replaceable.

Ouch! That sucks but yes, a new tank and a bunch of new additions.. Odds are something will not be happy..
I've always used cyanoacrylate glue for gluing frags.. I find it much less labour intensive, quicker and doesn't affect the system as much..

Hi Matt, I agree with you 100%. The only reason I use epoxy is because it's much, much easier to remove colonies if there is a blob of epoxy, and I do think I will need to adjust things down the road. I'm grouping corals according to their growth forms to create an artistic look. Admittedly, some corals will grow differently than I think they will, so I will need to move things around. :artist:

These are my inspiration for the growth form grouping.

 

[reefmutt]

Thats great inspiration. I remember that first tank. Loved the contrast of plating and branching. Love the different lighting used as well..

 

[alb_56]

Is there a thread for the first picture?

 

[reefmutt]

I think it was on an Asian site.. Don't remember if it was ever on n reef central.. Sorry. Goes back a few years..

 

[Myka]

So the SWC skimmer has been a royal pain in the butt. It keeps losing the foam head, then overflowing. The venturi seems clean, but I think the whole thing just needs a good clean. So I pulled the SWC and stuffed the ATB in there instead. I say "stuffed" because it barely fits since the Eheim pump takes up as much footprint as the skimmer body. I chose the ATB because it's used, and I don't have enough vinegar to clean up the new BK good enough. The ATB was an easy fix. The tank has run mostly skimmerless for the last 5 or 6 days because of the inconsistent foam head on the SWC. The ATB is picking some gunk up, but not much. It doesn't help that the tank is so new and way too clean. I've been feeding the heck out of the fish, and they are happy for this.

Ca 410 ppm (Elos)
Alk 143 ppm 8.0 dKH (Hanna)
NO3 undetectable (Salifert)
PO4 0.00 ppm (Hanna)

Still no nutrients. *sigh* I'm going to go feed the fish...brb

So I've pretty much decided I'm going to add sand to the tank. I'm itching to put a couple/few Jawfish in there. Plus the black bottom and black back make the tank look sooo dark. The LFS is waiting for Quality Marine to have stock of some Maldives Flame Anthias (P. ignitus) which I think will be a good fit for my tank size, but it's summer and QM doesn't have them in stock. I'll probably add a Yellow Coris Wrasse too, and one or two more Panamic Barnacle Blennies. I want to add a Perchlet, but I'm worried it might eat the Blennies.

The Panamic Blenny took a ride to the sump a couple days ago. He was happy to go back in the tank, and he reminded me that I have to silicone that rod onto the overflow lip. I'll get that done tonight.