Some new pics

I decided to sell my large green with purple edge Monti cap yesterday. The darn thing was just taking up too much room and growing at a rate that my 75 gallon tank couldn't keep up with. This is the second time I've had to sell a large Monti cap, first one was my orange and now the green. The orange I started from a frag about 1.5" long.

Here is the green cap in the back of the pic:

CIMG3760.jpg


Here is a pic of the orange monti cap I had to sell before :(

CIMG2003.jpg


and this is the frag that I grew that colony from:

CIMG1050.jpg


I took a piece of the orange colony above before I sold it and grew the monti cap that I have currently in the middle of my tank and the one all the way on the left.
You can compare the pics on the page 1 of this thread and can see a bit of the new colony in my avatar. I probably have given away 20 plus frags to local reefers also. Hopefully they are all doing well and all from that little frag above!
 
It's a sad but happy day for me. I had a guy come over and buy my bubble tip anemone from my cube tank. This thing was massive and basically hogged up all the room in the tank, stung my acros, etc. Sad because I've had him since I started this hobby.
My Onyx clowns seem a little lost but they will be fine. I'm on the look out for a nice Gigantea anemone that they should be right at home with.

Now to re-aquascape the cube, get a little more LR and more acros!
 
tagging along.....you have a huge bioload for a 75!!!! and i love it!!!!!!!LMAO my old snowflake was a bioload monster, and a mean booger too...i had to sell him and the day i pulled him a couple of years ago he was about 2 and half feet long and slithering on my floor..probably one of the biggest fiascos this hobby has ever given me...like something on seinfeld

Newschool......how often are you chaning out your bulbs....i am sure you are staggering them but enlighten me more!
 
I'm always wondering when that bio load is going to turn around and bite me. I've never had problems with algae or cyano, and I keep up with my bi-weekly 20 gallon changes and all has been good so far.

Couple of things that I'm contemplating: Getting rid of my Clarkii clown in my 75, the fish is just mean. Not to the other fish but to my hand whenever put it in the tank. Also my blue tang is getting a little large now for the 30 and I'm thinking of selling that fish.

I like the eel too much to break down the tank and catch him so he stays. I also in a round about way think he does some good. He's constantly slithering out and around and inside my LR and kicking up all sorts of detrius that makes it way into the water column. So he's polluting and helping at the same time. . .
 
I changed the first set after 18 months, plan on doing the same with this set so I have a while to go!
I didn't stagger it at all, but that's a good idea!
 
Thanks NewSchool

I was thinking about doing mine every 8-9 months. I am a stickler about losing PAR, and because i dont cool the bulbs they are going to degrade faster than if the bulbs were cooled.( have read way too much on t5's!)

I didnt want to part with my snowflake either but I didnt like having the top covered(mine was a jumpin fool) and i wanted cleaner shirmp, harlequin shrimp pair and all that kind of stuff so he had to go(i had him stick feeding and it was always a drunken show for all the buddies)

Funny about the clown---whenever i try to pinch some flake in my percs bite at my fingers------take a turkey baster to your clark and blast him into a corner everytime he tries to bite you and he will eventually get the idea.

How bout those bears?
 
I think 8 - 9 months is cutting your bulb life short, real short Serioussnaps. I love the T5 threads but I do take them with a grain of salt. I know the bulbs work, I know aprox. how long they last, I'm good with that. I was using these bulbs for a year 1/2 before anyone said anything about cooling the bulbs, etc.
I guess there are some people who look at this hobby in a technical way and some that just go with what works. I go with what works and let everyone else argue about PAR and all the other stuff. My things grow, I must have enough PAR and I'm done with it.

I'm much more interested in the reef chemistry and keeping my paramaters consistant. I really believe that lighting isn't what makes these great tanks great, it's the stable tanks that we all drool over.

Here are growth pics of my tank starting in 1/2005 up to my crash in 1/2006, before the long winded T5 threads and all the bulbs, fans, arguments, etc!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/printthread.php?threadid=728429

How bout them Bears?!!! I'm not going to lie to you, I'm nervous but confident. . . . ?
 
Good word...i agree with you on the lighting....maybe ill just stagger them....some at 9 months some at 12 and some at 16 or so.....constantly regenerating but not shocking my corals. Thanks for your input. I agree with you on lighting......probably the 3rd or 4th most important IMO.

Im nervous for Dem' Bears too! Ravens are gonna take it, I put money on em preseason and its lookin good so far...my Panthers are probably the biggest disappointment in the league this year.DOOHHHHHH, thanks for the growth pics gonna go check em out
 
I posted this info in a couple of threads, thought I'd add it here. I updated some of the information as far as how much I've dosed, and how long it's been going on.

For people that have a hard time keeping your Alk and Ca levels up while dripping Kalk, I've been doing a little test. Using Randy's advice from. .

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

I decided to try mixing my Kalk with vinegar to give a more potent dose. Skipping all the chemistry talk, the vinegar allows the water to absorb more kalk than water without vinegar. Usually water can only take in 2 tsp. of Kalk, with the vinegar addition you can add 3 tsp of Kalk to super saturate the mixture.

I'm now on my third week and it's doing great. Before I had to use Randy's 2 part to boost my levels to get to my target levels: 420ppm Ca and 3.2 meq/L Alk. I had to add aprox. 1/4 cup of Randy's Recipe #1 every other day to keep these levels. Obviously this is a total pain and I'd forget, levels down, more dosing, etc. All of this was really getting to me. I thought about a Ca reactor but my fantasy team let me down and I just can't justify spending the $$$ necessary to set one up.

So far this has been unbelievable! I have a 9 gallon reservoire that I drip 24/7 Kalk using a Nautilus II reef dosing pump. It takes 5 days before I need to refill. Per the instructions, I use 3 tsp. of Kalk per gallon and 45ml of vinegar per gallon, mix and let sit and then dose. By blind luck this seems to be a perfect measurement to keep my Alk at 3.2 meq/L and Ca at 420ppm.

I haven't noticed any negative effects from the vinegar, I've used aprox. 27 gallons of topoff in the last 2 1/2 weeks. All my levels have been extremely stable, not moving at all.

I thought people with high Ca and Alk demand tanks might be interested in this. Hope it helps someone.
 
Everytime i see the tank it looks better and better. Keep up the good work. NEWSCHOOL04 BEARS WIN WERE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL YA BABY.
 
oops!!! hold on gotta wipe the drool off my keyboard.lol
nice pics esp birdsnest. i'm a sucka for a large colony of zoos.
 
Back
Top