The Ultimate Eight Foot Softie Reef

[InsaneClownFish]

Vince, that Magnum is great. The same "around the island" effect, in long and especially shallow tanks, that we both talked about when I first setup my system, is prevalent here.

jbriddle- 3 pumps total:

2 Koralia 4s
1 Koralia Magnum 8

There are a couple of small patches of that rich looking cyano forming on some of the rockwork to the far left of the tank. I really need to update my clean up crew. I think the wrasse picks off quite a few of the blue legs, and I only have 4 or 5 Trochus snails and a handful of cerinths.

Trigeek- thanks, I really do like the way the aquascaping turned out. The depth in a wide tank is really something that allowed me to play with the visual impact. Alot of thought went into this- I didn't want the typical rock wall

I can't wait for things to grow in, because in my estimation this will make the depth all that more dramatic.

 

[stunreefer]

Awesome tank, excellent aquascaping! :thumbsup:

 

[InsaneClownFish]

stunreefer- Thanks!

Someone asked about whether I would add more fish. I love fish in a reef system, and I have four more on the way from Live Aquaria. I'll be adding a Lieutenant Tang, a small Chocolate Tang, and 2 small European Tank Bred Oceallaris. If all goes well this will be my final stocking for the tank.

I'm not sure if anyone picked up on this from the pics, but I've added some crushed coral to the far right end and the back middle of the tank. This was done to fill spots where the Magnum had completely removed sand. I like the look of the sanding blending in with the crushed coral, and even though it's been suggested that cc doesn't really have much of a buffering capacity, it certainly can't hurt.

So now I'd like to talk about some of the good things. Coraline algae is slowly growing on the rockwork. I've seen lots of mini feather dusters sprouting. I've seen a few days that saw the sides of the tank covered in hydroids and amphipods. There are micro-brittle stars on the rocks that migrated in from a fellow reefer's tank, and small asterina stars from my original live rock. All my corals look healthy and are thriving. The blue/purple polyps have tripled in density in a little over a month's time.

I am curious about something. I did add a full sized brittle star to help with any detritus, and from what I understood they are reef safe. From my browsing on RC, it would seem that they are capable of eating small fish. Other info seems to suggest they will only catch dead or sick fish. Anyone have experience with these? It sits in the center rock and puts out it's
tentacles at night. It's very interesting to watch along with the spagetti worm.

Man did I make a rookie mistake! Monday night I stopped in the LFS to grab some inverts and take a peek at the tanks. I also picked up another $4. plastic breeder and split the cheato into two breeders that are now stacked in the overflow as a pseudo fuge. Now to the rookie mistake... They had some $50. LTAs and some Pink Tipped Anemones for $14.99. Thinking they were a mis-marked variant of the LTA, I bought one. It acclimated perfectly and looked quite beautiful in the nook I found for it.

While kicking back on the tank room couch that night I decided to do some reading in order to positively ID it. Ugghhhh Condy....I knew that. How did I not know that? :mixed: I swear sometimes I have complete brain farts. This hobby is so "learning" intensive that I swear some information seeps outta my brain so that other info can settle in for a time.

So the Atlantic Condy- gets large, will randomly wander around the tank, enjoys eating fish, is not a natural host for any clownfish and will more often than not eat clownfish. All in all, hardy as hell, but not the best choice for any indo-pacific reef tank. So just as I did a terribly unconscientious thing, I did a very conscientious thing the next afternoon and returned it to the LFS for a credit. Thankfully, the rock it had attached to was loose in the front of the tank. This thing was definitely content, because it was very securely attached. The ice method didn't seem to work, so I had to slowly and easily use the opposite end of a plastic spoon to work/irritate the foot off of the rock.

Lesson learned people, don't be like Mr. InsaneClownFish! Do your reading BEFORE you purchase the animal or you might just end up with more work in the end. :crazy1:

 

[Trigeek]

Thanks for sharing! Impulse buys are tough to control and we're all guilty of them at one point or another, even a hobbyist as experienced as you can fall into it.

I'm thinking of adding some crushed coral to my tank as well. It is very useful as a refugium for pods and such. I have some wild thoughts about this and may do something radical with it :eek1:

Though I've never owned one, I've read that the green brittle stars will prey upon your fish if they get large enough. Wrasses are especially vulnerable if they burrow in the sand at night to sleep. I believe the black ones are "fish safe."

Can't wait to see the new fish! Never heard of either of those types of Tangs.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Oh great to know about the black brittle stars as mine is indeed black. I've seen this variety being sold in detrivore kits at some pretty reputable online sellers with no warnings, so I'm guessing there shouldn't be an issue.

I called the family down to the tank tonight because he was actually roaming about tonight looking for food

I've always loved A. Pryroferus- Chocolate tangs. They start out mimicking the lemonpeel angel, but as they get older they transition into a body with gorgeous chocolate, yellow, and even orange hues. The Lieutenant tang- A Tennetti is one of the most recommended for reef environments and is supposed to have one of the best personalities of an adult tang- seeming less aggressive than the rest. It just doesn't seem to be as popular because the juvenille coloring is a bit of a grey tone.

 

[UnderwaterExotic]

I might of missed it, how much did that tank cost?

 

[InsaneClownFish]

If I remember right the tank shook out at around $1300. not including shipping.

 

[THEUNION1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14029729#post14029729 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by InsaneClownFish

Whats that purple clove coral called? Is it just called clove coral? I have had one for like 3 mos but didnt know what it was called and half of it died like overnight. Need to know name so i can make a post as to the thought s of its death. Sorry dont mean to butt in its just i looked forever for a pic on google and didnt find one and here it is!


Thanks

 

[InsaneClownFish]

It is either some type of Caluviid- Sea mat, star polyp variant. Or it is some variant of Tubipora Musica- Pipe Organ. You are welcome to use this picture when you ask your questions. Unfortunately, I've done some reading and it is impossible for me to positively ID it- they are so similar. Good luck!

 

[THEUNION1]

Sweet thanks

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Well I have a mixed review regarding my LiveAquaria order. My Visa gift card did not go through the first time, and they called me to correct the error. Long story short the fish shipped the wrong day. Unfortunately, this was a day I had to work 16hours and ended up being late for work because I was acclimating fish. Along with this, and at the last minute, the Lieutenant Tang was not available. I was quite disappointed because that fish was the main reason for my order, and I feel they should notify the customer prior to shipping when something is not available.

All that being said, it's hard to argue with the quality of their fish. Their packaging is perfect. Their fish are healthy, colorful, and eating right out of the bag. So on this end, I am quite satisfied. They have offered me a shipping credit so that I don't pay the shipping twice when I next order my Tang.

I've finally taken the plunge and purchased a Nikon D40 DSLR from Walmart. It's my intention to play with the camera and see if it's really what I want. If not I'm returning it. I'm leaning towards this because I think a Canon with a Macro lens might be the way to go.
I broke out my tripod and here are the best shots from tonight:

 

[InsaneClownFish]

 

[Jacob D]

Cool pics, and nice fish. It's hard to go wrong with LA for fish, especially with the guarantee. Not sure if they still have it but they used to have a notes section on the order form. In the past I had specified to call me if any item on my order was not available. Sure enough they did and I was able to cancel the order (I placed it again later when the fish was in stock).

You're tank is looking good. Keep it up!


Oh, the D40 is fine but it won't auto focus most lenses. The newer Nikon's have the af motor in the body so they don't have that limitation. Canon is good too, I have a Canon 40D and it's a great camera. Any modern DSLR with a macro lens in the 100mm range will produce great close up images (at least when operated properly )

 

[Trigeek]

Nice pics. What is the coral next to your yellow leather?

 

[InsaneClownFish]

mothra- Well the Nikon auto focuses with no issues, but I will need a 100mm lense to take any type of macros. If I decide the D40 is for me, I'm most likely going to return it and purchase one with a Macro lense.

Trigeek- That's my colony of Australian Duncans. Make a long story short, it's a frag that came directly from Julian Sprung and was given to a local store owner here in CT. The frag was a gift for holding a conference at the store. One of the store employees unwittingly sold it to me(I had no idea the history of the piece). Since that time I've fragged a sizeable piece and returned it to that store owner. I've probably had this coral for over 2 years, and it is now in it's third tank of mine. The colony had 7 polyps when I first purchased it, and after one fragging currently has close to 25 heads. It's thriving- I noticed baby heads underneath some of the heads a few nights ago.

I spent alot of time last night scraping the tank and trying to work off water spots from the back of the acrylic. The tank is close enough to the wall where it makes this quite tedious. I've been trying to use a microfiber cloth, wrapped around some reinforced vinyl tubing, and secured with one of my fiance's scrunchies- ahh the magnificent scrunchy! It doesn't work all that well, so I'll be constructing a new tool soon.

I think I might have pinned down some of the algae issues. When I reset my timer during the last power outage I must have pressed down too many segments, as the tank is now getting an extra 2 hours of light. On top of this, I stumbled into the tank room the other morning to notice a strong beam of light emanating from the glass pains on the basement door. While I have curtains on the windows, the door glass is bear. The light was strong enough to bring out all the polyps on my toadstool. I can surmise that the tank has been getting an extra 6 hours of natural light- time to cover up those door panes!

 

[FL.Joe]

Hey ICF, whats up dude? things are looking great with your system, congrats on the new additions too. i'm just noticing that you have several damsels in your tank, you're a brave man...have you had any issues with there aggression?

how are your corals handling all that flow, you have over 4500gph right? i only have about 3500gph in my 135g and i'm having a hard time keeping my softies open because of the flow, especially my hammer.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

FL.Joe Actually Joe, it's about 5900gph I have no issues with the flow and my softies. The tank is just that long I've come to find out that certain softies actually thrive in a strong current, while others, like my zoas and shrooms, sit quietly in the lowest flow section of the tank.

I swore I would never put damsels in a reef tank, but it has proved one of the better decisions I've made. It really creates movement and a "reef" effect on the tank. It solidified that the tank was stable enough for my "delicate" fish. The nice thing about having such a long tank is that, while there is aggression, it is dissipated by the shear number of fish. If chasing begins, then the "chased" simply gets lost in the mix. There would be far more aggression with less fish.

Your Hammer is an LPS(if it's the same coral we all refer to as 'hammer'). It may need to be moved. My chalice did not like the flow and I actually had to move it a good 3 feet away from the pumps.

I'm working on a couple of projects. Stay tuned

 

[zachofalltrades]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14057184#post14057184 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by InsaneClownFish Here's an old picture from the brief stint that I used egg crate:

[/B]

I was just looking through the past couple of pages to catch up on things and it doesn't look like anybody else asked... but what the hell are you watching on tv? lol

 

[N-A-S-O]

Looks like Phillipe Nover from the Ultimate Fighter.

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Looks like Phillipe Nover from the Ultimate Fighter.

Give that man a cigar :bum: UFC it is.