Ron Popeils Dual Clownfish-o-matic!

well some things have changed since the last pictures were posted. after nearly 5 months of unexplainable SPS death and losing nearly all of them, i made some upgrades. i replaced my modified recirc ASM G4 with a bubble blaster reef octopus 3000 internal. i switched out my dual 400w magnetic ballasts for electronic 400w/250w select a watt ballasts and put the 45 gallon under a 250w bulb. i got rid of the three korallia evo 4s i had in the 60 gallon and put in an MP40 vortech. i also took off my recently non functioning 1" sea swirls and replaced them with some pvc and loc line. i also removed all but two of the magnificas, keeping the purple based and rusty red based one.

so much more flow now. so much better light. and a more open tank. lots of new corals. as soon as i replaced the ballasts, the sps started growing again. much to my delight. i also put a 10k bulb over the 45 gallon and its made the color of the anemone just incredible, the 60 has a 400w radium.

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a short, probably noisy video.

 
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the tricinctus are most difficult to photograph because theyre always chasing the damsels or deep within the anemone. what i found fascinating about this species is the color change of the male. when it was introduced it looked identical to the female with some brown and black throughout the back of the fish. now the fish is almost completely yellow. i really like it! im feeding them a ton because i would love to see them spawn soon....

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What did you do with the third magnifica? Any chance it could find its way to my tank? :)
Beautiful reefs! Thank you for continuing to share those.
 
i dont know colt, i had never heard of that before. only in maroon clown pairs have i ever seen the male change color from the female, maybe tomatoes as well...
 
i got rid of the three korallia evo 4s i had in the 60 gallon and put in an MP40 vortech.

What's your plan for keeping your mag out of your new Vortech? Mine recently blundered into my MP40 and I had to use scissors to get it out. Amazingly enough is has made what looks like a full recovery but I darn sure don't want it to happen again.
 
i dont tend to have problems with my magnificas moving. as a safeguard though, the rock the anemones are on is shaped like a tall pillar. it would have to crawl down nearly 20 inches of rock, over a few inches of sand and then back up the glass to get attacked by the vortech.

keeping my rockwork off the glass, my pumps out of the way and centering my mags in the middle of the light and water motion seem to keep them quite stationary. you could also use the sponge cover that came with your vortech, although i imagine it would clog up quickly with unsightly detritus.
 
Man that is one overstocked 60g! It looks awesome though, you must do a ton of water changes to keep up with the load on both of those tanks. Do you do any carbon dosing to keep the coral happy?
 
thank you!
i usually do a 44 gallon water change every six weeks. in the mean time, i dose 15mL or so of biofuel every day. i used to test for phosphates every week. but havent done so in almost two months. never have any nitrates, and surprisingly the phosphates have stayed remarkably low.
 
i dont tend to have problems with my magnificas moving. as a safeguard though, the rock the anemones are on is shaped like a tall pillar. it would have to crawl down nearly 20 inches of rock, over a few inches of sand and then back up the glass to get attacked by the vortech.

keeping my rockwork off the glass, my pumps out of the way and centering my mags in the middle of the light and water motion seem to keep them quite stationary. you could also use the sponge cover that came with your vortech, although i imagine it would clog up quickly with unsightly detritus.


Thanks for the reply. I picked up some dry rock today and I'm going to try and fashion some kind of tower for my mag. My Vortech had the sponge on it, didn't help.
 
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just a quick update to my system. the corals have essentially taken over the tank. i am hoping to get in there and prune back heavily...maybe even cram in some new colonies.

the nigripes ive had in there <i>were</i> doing well...until about two months ago when i lost one of them unexpectedly. very disheartened.

the tricinctus i am feeding heavily, removed all the damsels from their tank, and am hoping to get them to start spawning soon.

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i am sort of bored with the look of the tricinctus tank. if anyone has any suggestions on things to add to make it look....nicer, more natural, more awesome....feel free to suggest.
 
Nice tri's. i been feeding mine heavy to so they might try to spawn as well. mine dont spent to much time in my rbta they have. they play in the mp10 stream with the midas. mine are decent size like yours and mine are about the same shade as your female.

as for doing a redo for your tank i wold swap at the nem. kinda taking over the whole tank. hehe
mine are in my solana and i have them and the nem in a cave and they love to go in and out of it.

beautiful tanks you got there.
 
In the tricinctus tank, what about getting some magnets and then gluing some frags to them and place them on the back. It might look pretty sweet with a backdrop of scrolling montiporas or something like that. Either that or just let some xenia go wild in there.

Hey off topic but is that real thick stag in the middle of them all A. robusta? I have a frag of what I believe is robusta and am wondering what color it is going to turn out to be. So far it's turned from a brown piece to a real foresty green one.
 
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Sorry to hear your lose, my petco has 3 nigripes there for the past 1.5 month for $15, beautiful tank's btw, subscribing.
 
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