Not a typical doctor's waiting room... 450 gallon reef

[Dudester]

Thanks for asking Shawn. Things are going along very nicely. The corals are getting very big and we've been fragging to keep things in check. We're in the process of planning out a frag tank that will be kept in the equipment room. We're also going to add a couple Vortec powerheads to increase flow, as the size of the corals has really blunted the circulation throughout the tank. Our only new fish since the last post are a target mandarin and a psychedelic mandarin. The kids love'em! We have an aiptasia outbreak and the peppermint shrimp aren't touching them, so we're looking for a butterfly with the proper appetite. We also have some cyanobacteria but we hope the increased flow from the Vortecs will help. Lastly, we're going to put a self-cleaning head on the Deltec skimmer (the cup only gets cleaned/emptied once a week), so that should improve it's efficiency.

 

[GSMguy]

I'd love to see some pics of the tank even if just to show the growth and how it looks.

 

[melev]

+1! It has been pictureless since 4/19/08. Six months should be a significant change by now.

<b>Remember...</b>

 

[gkarshens]

Don't forget my Sailfin that came out of my tank! He has a much nicer home now!

 

[maxxII]

Be careful with the clowns in the Elegence coral. I have not heard of this going well for the coral.

As for the butterfly to remove the aptasia, I've heard several cases where Falcula/Double Saddle butterfly fish do well in this regard without attacking SPS. I have also heard of larger angels like Imperators eating aptasia.

Nick

 

[Dudester]

melev - Oh, snap, no you di'int just post that banner in here! On second thought, yeah, we deserve it. I actually took some pics today with my camera phone, fully intending to post them, but for some reason I'm not able to transfer the images. I'll take some pics soon with a real camera and post them - promise.

Sorry Gabriel, almost forgot - yes, your red sea sailfin tang is loving his new home.

Nick, what have you heard about outcomes with the elegance/clownfish pairings? The elegance has been in the tank for several months now and it is growing like crazy; definitely no detrimental effects thus far.

John came by today and added a Klein's butterflyfish. In his shop he had several butterflys, and he systematically added LR with aiptasia to the tanks to figure out which were aiptasia eaters. Even though this one is currently the size of a half-dollar coin, it consumed aiptasia larger than itself while at Kingfish. We're hoping it will do the same in the office tank, where it acclimated to its new surroundings almost immediately.

 

[GSMguy]

As long as the clowns aren't damaging the Coral it's fine, I've had my percs in lps without issue.

 

[maxxII]

It usually causes damage to the Elegence according to the guys on the Elegence coral theory thread. I've only had mine for 5 days, so I'm not the most knowledgable with them. Allegedly when the Elegence is withdrawn into its skeleton, the clowns can cause tissue damage. I have a hammer that doesnt withdraw anywhere near as much as my Elegence at night...At night the Elegence is about 1/4 of the size it is during the day.

I cant defintively state you'll have issues with it...your clowns could be small, the Elegence could be huge....just raising the issue. You might try and see how the Elegence looks about 2 hours or so after lights are out over the tank....

Nick

 

[Dudester]

Thanks guys, I'll keep all of that in mind. We're actually considering putting a blue carpet anemone into the tank, and if we do I would HOPE that the clowns would abandon the elegance and host the anemone instead.

Now give me a little time to upload some pics

 

[Jar*Head]

Tank look sweet Doc

 

[Dudester]

You haven't even seen the pics yet, Steve! You must be psychic.

OK, so it's a little messy because frags from my old rimless are residing in the tank, and my camera sucks, and I didn't white balance so everything looks purple, yada yada yada. But at least you'll be able to appreciate the growth.

Full tank from the end.

This Turaki's color is true to life

This horribly out-of-focus watermelon chalice is 6-7" in diameter.

 

[Dudester]

This is a Tyree true undata on the left, efflo on the right, and cali tort behind them.

The elegance coral, with the clownfish close by.

Here's the achilles tang from my previous tank. I doubt I'll ever get him out to put into my new tank, but he seems quite happy here.

 

[stunreefer]

:eek1:

I think I'll have John bag up that Turaki and ship it to me with my tank!

Everything looks fantastic, great job! :thumbsup:


That elegance looks great! What can happen with clowns...they'll try to "burrow" into it as they would an anemone... generally not an issue, but when its night time the elegance will start to close up, and once it gets smaller the clowns can damage the tissue while trying to burrow into it (tissue scarping on jagged skeleton). Per that pic the elegance looks great.... nice long tentacles, and sticky to the touch are pretty much the two best signs for those guys. Oh yeah, and is that just a snail shell by the base of the elegnace? Another thing they do when very happy.....EAT snails!

 

[melev]

It has really grown in since I was there last! No wonder you didn't mind taking down the tank at home, since you have this to look at every single day. Awesome!

 

[maxxII]

Where's the Elegence?

Nick

 

[maxxII]

NM, you posted pics as I was posting.

Nick

 

[Jar*Head]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13583858#post13583858 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dudester
You haven't even seen the pics yet, Steve! You must be psychic.

I was looking at the old pic :lol:

 

[Bax]

OMG!

Dr Dude!

You've been hoarding such fantastic growth shots?!!!!

 

[jnarowe]

Fan-freakin-tastic. Looks superb! :thumbsup:

 

[GSMguy]

that tank rules that stag growth is soo cool looks very natural

Thanks for the update, I would get a frag of everything in there when you get the new tank setup at home, very nice, the kids must love it