The Scleractinia Shallows

[Wrangy]

Your vacation looked great Dom. But you rained on My Parade about those blue faced angels I was pretty excited about that. I hope that you're not planning a magma wrasse. My local fish store got two of them in and had to discount them by 60% and they still haven't sold. I'm probably eventually going to pick one up but they are just a red wrasse. Those are some nice pictures of your vacation how about any tank shots?

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haha I'm definitely getting a magma lol hopefully picking the beauty up on Thursday but there's some other wrasse plans that may eventuate too They're staying secret for some time till I have some results from it if it goes ahead lol

Yeah Dom, you have to pick up Andrews slack. Some pics, and you need to buy more corals. You presently might have too much fish pee. More SPS would take care of it.

Marty

Definitely not enough fish pee, I NEED more fish :lol: and corals too lol

Here's some updated pics from after the holiday! Need to get a new alk test though!

 

[Wrangy]

It's strange really, I was thinking about the tank and the hobby and now you're all going to have to put up with me thought ramblings.
I've been in this hobby for 4/5 years now and I've yet to have my tank at a stage of what I would consider it to be a successful reef for any period of time. There was a period there with cade that was doing really well and I was over the moon with it and truly proud of the tank I had, that was pretty quickly destroyed by pest algae. Since then it's really just been bump to bump to bump and I really haven't felt a great deal of pride or feeling of accomplishment since then.
It's only really now that I feel that I'm starting to get somewhere with the tank. I've eliminated AEFW, bubble algae, bryopsis and caulerpa nummularia, all the pests that plagued me. It's meant I've lost a lot of stock and I'm now a master of the things that go wrong lol

Now that the tank is free, I feel it has a little more direction and motivation to it. I also feel that I might actually have a tank that is level with my knowledge as I've always felt I can't really stand on my advice sometimes. I know I know what I'm doing and that I can do it, I just feel that I haven't been there in a long time. I just want things to be nice, happy, colourful and growing lol. I want fat happy fish too lol

That all being said and done I've done some thinking and I need to get my *** into gear! I've finally got this calcium reactor sorted and pumping away (well not really but I don't have much demand in the tank yet lol), the nutrients are floating around the 10 and 0.03 area but I might bring those down a little more with AF. I desperately want to add some more fish as the tank feels so empty but I don't want to add things that aren't on my list!! I hate this dilemma lol. I might add some mozzie fish or something for some movement and not a lot of bio-load.

I'm also going to try to be a little more proactive for the next couple of months till things are rocking in a stride of some degree of stability with bi-weekly alk testing, weekly Ca and Mg testing and fortnightly nutrients (if I can be bothered lol). Then I might look into some trace dosing and maybe even an ICP test. The other front that's going to change is feeding the tank. At the moment I'm feeding live brine for a few days every second week and the fish love it! (unsurprisingly) but I've pieced together a brine hatching setup with some soda water bottles lol and I'm going to be trying out some baby brine feedings once there's a couple more fish in the tank in an attempt to start up a different experiment that might come to fruition soon

Anyway enough rambles lol

 

[FloformAustria]

First of all Dom your tank is looking really good!

And what you were rambling about:
Same here I know that feeling and I really hope my new tank will come with a little less complications and now I can get it in the direction I want!!

I am happy that you are happy ;-)

Cheers

 

[martinphillip03]

Dom, The fact you SPS corals are still alive, even if none of those plagues happened, is amazing. The people that comment on your thread are amazing SPS keepers, (excluding me). SPS keeping isn't easy, nor for the fans of heart. You are always one step away from disaster. So to summarize, your winning. You have an amazing friend, and an amazing fish store that you can lean on. So don't fret, your doing good. Remember SPS keeping is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good luck,

Marty

It's strange really, I was thinking about the tank and the hobby and now you're all going to have to put up with me thought ramblings.
I've been in this hobby for 4/5 years now and I've yet to have my tank at a stage of what I would consider it to be a successful reef for any period of time. There was a period there with cade that was doing really well and I was over the moon with it and truly proud of the tank I had, that was pretty quickly destroyed by pest algae. Since then it's really just been bump to bump to bump and I really haven't felt a great deal of pride or feeling of accomplishment since then.
It's only really now that I feel that I'm starting to get somewhere with the tank. I've eliminated AEFW, bubble algae, bryopsis and caulerpa nummularia, all the pests that plagued me. It's meant I've lost a lot of stock and I'm now a master of the things that go wrong lol

Now that the tank is free, I feel it has a little more direction and motivation to it. I also feel that I might actually have a tank that is level with my knowledge as I've always felt I can't really stand on my advice sometimes. I know I know what I'm doing and that I can do it, I just feel that I haven't been there in a long time. I just want things to be nice, happy, colourful and growing lol. I want fat happy fish too lol

That all being said and done I've done some thinking and I need to get my *** into gear! I've finally got this calcium reactor sorted and pumping away (well not really but I don't have much demand in the tank yet lol), the nutrients are floating around the 10 and 0.03 area but I might bring those down a little more with AF. I desperately want to add some more fish as the tank feels so empty but I don't want to add things that aren't on my list!! I hate this dilemma lol. I might add some mozzie fish or something for some movement and not a lot of bio-load.

I'm also going to try to be a little more proactive for the next couple of months till things are rocking in a stride of some degree of stability with bi-weekly alk testing, weekly Ca and Mg testing and fortnightly nutrients (if I can be bothered lol). Then I might look into some trace dosing and maybe even an ICP test. The other front that's going to change is feeding the tank. At the moment I'm feeding live brine for a few days every second week and the fish love it! (unsurprisingly) but I've pieced together a brine hatching setup with some soda water bottles lol and I'm going to be trying out some baby brine feedings once there's a couple more fish in the tank in an attempt to start up a different experiment that might come to fruition soon

Anyway enough rambles lol

 

[reefmutt]

^
what flo and marty said..
Also, this tank isn't exactly mature, Dom.
It is, however, just about to turn a corner.. you are right on track!

 

[Wrangy]

First of all Dom your tank is looking really good!

And what you were rambling about:
Same here I know that feeling and I really hope my new tank will come with a little less complications and now I can get it in the direction I want!!

I am happy that you are happy ;-)

Cheers

Thanks Flo

I think everyone here feels my rambles! We've all been there and through problems and bumps, I wanted to get it out there as I feel the tank is turning that corner

Dom, The fact you SPS corals are still alive, even if none of those plagues happened, is amazing. The people that comment on your thread are amazing SPS keepers, (excluding me). SPS keeping isn't easy, nor for the fans of heart. You are always one step away from disaster. So to summarize, your winning. You have an amazing friend, and an amazing fish store that you can lean on. So don't fret, your doing good. Remember SPS keeping is a marathon, not a sprint.
Good luck,

Marty

It's so true, it blows me away at the capabilities we have as reefers in this day and age! It really makes me respect the pioneers of the hobby for what they went through to bring the advances to the hobby we love so much

I think my marathon is just about to begin This has all been my warm up! haha

^
what flo and marty said..
Also, this tank isn't exactly mature, Dom.
It is, however, just about to turn a corner.. you are right on track!

I feel we're about to round that corner! I know the tank is really only starting to mature now but I thought I'd put it all down so I can look back and be happy lol unless everything blows up in my face :blown:

 

[Wrangy]

oh dear..... ooooohhhhh ddddeeeaaarrrrrr :fun5::eek1::eek1:




Do I really need to eat for the next few months?!??

 

[reefmutt]

Wow, you really are a wrasse man..

 

[FloformAustria]

no you don´t!!
BUY BUUUUUUUUUYYYYYY!!!

man i will stock up my wrasse collection as soon as the tank is ready!!!

BBBBBBUUUUUUUYYYYYYYYY

:lolspin:

 

[Wrangy]

Wow, you really are a wrasse man..

Yeeaaahhh.... :fun5: thinking pintail and katherine's I would love to get the crescent but some complex as the pintail so that's a no go lol they'll go nicely with the magma waiting at the store for me haha

no you don´t!!
BUY BUUUUUUUUUYYYYYY!!!

man i will stock up my wrasse collection as soon as the tank is ready!!!

BBBBBBUUUUUUUYYYYYYYYY

:lolspin:

:lmao::lmao:
I will NOT be coming home empty handed on Saturday :rollface:

 

[FloformAustria]

:lmao::lmao:

I will NOT be coming home empty handed on Saturday :rollface:

That is what I wanted to hear!!

Don't forget to show us what you did get!!

Cheers

 

[Pife]

Yeeaaahhh.... :fun5: thinking pintail and katherine's I would love to get the crescent but some complex as the pintail so that's a no go lol they'll go nicely with the magma waiting at the store for me haha


:lmao::lmao:
I will NOT be coming home empty handed on Saturday :rollface:

I love my Pintail! It has recently got a hump though. It looks like Quasimoto swimming around. Still beautiful, just a bit different.

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[Wrangy]

That is what I wanted to hear!!

Don't forget to show us what you did get!!

Cheers

I just want it to be the weekend already :debi: I got my pay and it started burning a hole in my bank account after about 5 mins :lol:

I love my Pintail! It has recently got a hump though. It looks like Quasimoto swimming around. Still beautiful, just a bit different.

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Pintails have been on my list ever since they got classified as c. isosceles so at least 3 years lol. I'll also FINALLY be picking up my magma wrasse and who knows what else I'll walk out with! lol

 

[Wrangy]

Oh boy, oh boy, do I have an update for you guys!! lol after I got that list of goodies that were coming in, they came in but while they tried to steal the show, as per usual Christian and the guys at Sustainable Reefs made sure that was not the case!! Holy balls was there an overload of goodies!!

Just check out this bloody sps tank the next morning from the shipment!


There was just soooo much to choose from but because I was there on fish business I only stole two bits, one is a very interesting piece that has some really delicate growth that I can't wait to see what it does and well.... then there's this bit.... :inlove:


The real winners for me though was finally getting myself the most gorgeous c. isoceles. I'm just ecstatic about him!


And I was finally FINALLY able to sort out and pick up my cherry magma wrasse!!


Both the newbies went in and were eating pellets and live brine with gusto straight away! I have to say I'm over the moon! Here's a quick shotty video of the tank just before a clean and water change so please excuse the mess!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9j5sEsBO-nI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And lets finish off with an FTS

 

[FloformAustria]

Holy Coral heaven :inlove:

Those are some insane pieces and those fish are amazing!!!

Good job dom!! So no food for you for the rest of September or till January 2018? :lolspin:

The YouTube link isn't working for me :-(

Cheers

 

[Wrangy]

Holy Coral heaven :inlove:

Those are some insane pieces and those fish are amazing!!!

Good job dom!! So no food for you for the rest of September or till January 2018? :lolspin:

The YouTube link isn't working for me :-(

Cheers

It was pretty amazing

Sleeping on the couch as well :lol: :fun5::debi: haha

Is it working now??

 

[slavetonet]

How's your gem sps that you keep in the sump? Are they all alive?

 

[FloformAustria]

It was pretty amazing



Sleeping on the couch as well :lol: :fun5::debi: haha



Is it working now??

Couch Must be enough!!

No but I'm only trying here in tabatalk with my iPhone...
There seems to be something missing in the address

Cheers

 

[Pife]

Wow I wish deer park was over here! Is that typical of most lfs down there? Those wrasse are amazing. Great pick ups!

 

[Wrangy]

How's your gem sps that you keep in the sump? Are they all alive?

Which sps is that? lol there's none in the sump, hasn't been for months lol keep up Kevin!

Couch Must be enough!!
No but I'm only trying here in tabatalk with my iPhone...
There seems to be something missing in the address
Cheers

haha nah my partner always knows what I spend she has the same addiction but with books so we know what each others loves are and they aren't really questioned lol
What about on the web?

Wow I wish deer park was over here! Is that typical of most lfs down there? Those wrasse are amazing. Great pick ups!

We're just so unbelievably lucky to have Deer Park and the maestro's that own and run it Especially when they get supplied by the amazing guys at Sustainable Reefs, Christian and Rick really are the finest of the best collectors and aquculturers Nobody compares!
Not typical at all lol there's about two other LFS that can compare in sps and I can count on one hand the others that I would consider to be top shops!