The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[clekchau]

beautiful

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10969110#post10969110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by asnatlas
Where did you get your Butterflies ??

From a collector in Hawaii. I also saw them available on LiveAquaria last week.

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10969132#post10969132 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
anthias look great. no QT eh? You're a brave man!

I know the person we got them from and he is good about QTing before we got them. I didn't ask specifics, but he has had these for a while now and I also know that he runs some pretty heavy chemicals in his systems. But you are right, we took a chance with them.

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10969141#post10969141 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clekchau
beautiful

Thanks. Hopefully they will all still look as good in a week . Aside from the fish we are finally, I think, starting to get a handle on our general water quality issues (not so much suspended particulate in the water column these days). Each day it seems a little clearer, which is reassuring

 

[invincible569]

Looking great! You will love those pyramids! They are very active.

 

[GreshamH]

Tom, you should turn down the amount of time your Kalk reactor stirs IMO. You don't need to make it even stir all the way to the top. Heck, mines on for 33 seconds, although now that there is less kalk sitting in it, I've turned it down to 18.5 seconds.

What store in Sac did you stop by for the AP?

 

[Bax]

Your fish chioces, past and present, are great!

 

[Sparkss]

invincible569
Yes, they really are very active fish. More so than we had expected. They definitely add color and movement to the tank

Gresh
I picked the bottle of AP up from Exotic. And our kalk stirs for 15 minutes once every 6 hours (I think that is the setting)

Bax
Thanks for the kind words


I worked on the T5 setup this weekend and actually put power to the 60" strip across the front of the tank this evening. It really does put out a nice blue/white light (ATI Aquablue bulb). We are still considering what to do for the sides of the tank, etc. I picked up 36" bulbs and reflectors for the sides but don't know if we are going to use them for that or not. Right now we just want to see how things look and adjust to the one we put across the front. Mainly going to be watching the lower light corals to make sure we aren't balsting them. And also watching the medium to high light corals to see if we notice any differences with them. The main thing is going to be how much difference the T5 makes with the halides on tomorrow. (I didn't finish up until just after the MHs went off this evening.. by minutes,.. *sigh*).

 

[zemuron114]

looking good Tom (and Jue and Mel!) The anthias were a good choice! they add some great color!

 

[orientalexpress]

Hey tom,How u like your butterfly so far?i'm going pickup a couple tomorrow.your tank look great.


lapsan

 

[Sparkss]

we love them Lapsan. They add alot of color and activity to the tank . Haven't seen them go near any aiptasia yet though, but we will see

 

[mpoletti]

Wow Tom. The tank is looks great. Keep up the great work

 

[Sparkss]

Thanks Mark. We have had some bumps and bruises along the way and I feel that we are not at the end of that particular journey just yet, but I do think that we are closer . The water clarity problem is slowly but surely abating to where the tank looks pretty clear now, all the way to the back wall of the tank, 4' away.

We lost one of the potters wrasses from the shipment, which has me extremely bummed and we are watching the other new fish closely (I know, QT is a must, but we simply don't have the space or $$ right now).

Here is the pair of potters swimming together. The one in the back didn't make it. I think it was injured in shipping, and they are notoriously bad shippers to begin with.

Here is the female flame wrasse that we also picked up (there was room in the box and we plan to get a small harem of flames, but they only had a single female avail, so we went ahead with the one). She is very lively and quite colorful. My wife really likes her

There there is the algae blenny (or rockskipper as they are called in Hawaii).

 

[Sparkss]

And this isn't an FTS, but it is as much in frame as I could get with our camera/lens combo.

And one more closeup of the female flame

We are bummed that the one potters wrasse didn't make it, but the one that did was seen picking at the sandbed, likely eating the microfauna there and also eating cyplopeez out of the water column. Hopefully he will continue to thrive. They are truly beautiful fish and I really wished we could have been able to keep the pair alive .

 

[chris wright]

Bummer to lose your new arrival. At least the rest are doing well and the tank looks great :thumbsup:

Cheers

Chris

 

[tomasz]

Your Leapard wreasses are the nicest I have seen in a long time.

 

[Bax]

The butterfly trio and leopard wrasse pair look great! That last "nearly" FTS looks really good too!

 

[Sparkss]

Thanks for all the kind words, and yea, it was heartbreaking to lose that one potters, but they are such fragile shippers you almost have to order a percentage more than you want to end up with . And I personally HATE even thinking, much less ordering that way. Right now one is very healthy and eating. I don't know about the 3rd one, so there is still hope for him. The one that is out and swimming around still gets bullied by the ornate wrasse, but only in the morning. By early afternoon they are swimming around together like "buds". This happens each day, so I am not sure how it will all work out long term. Just as I am about to get the trap out each day he starts "playing nice" and I back off of wanting to trap him out (until the next morning *sigh*). But it was still great to see the new potters leopard eating the cypclopeez as quickly as he did.

Everyone has that one fish or coral that they just are dying to have, and have the worst luck in getting and/or keeping. Potters leopard wrasse is taht fish for us. Mainly due to their lack of availability locally and their horrible shipping reputation (which was well earned).

One thing about that "mearly" FTS shot is that while the water is not as clear/clean as I would like just yet, there is definitely an improvement over the last couple of weeks. Just remember that the back rocks, coral and tank wall is 4' back from the front glass. So all things considered it is doing better. I just hope that it keeps on that track and stays in such good condition .

 

[tomasz]

Tom

How are the pyramids behaving? Any coral nipping?

 

[Sparkss]

no coral nipping that I have seen at all. There are several threads of other people with one or more in their tanks, Copps being one . These are supposed to be reef tank safe.