Tomoko's new 180

[Tomoko Schum]

Pink birdsnest from H@rry, mauve Pocillopora from Tritons Gardens, and the unknown baby blue acro:

Neon green milli:

Crocea clam:

AOG colony:

Pink milli (unfortunately a very dark picture):

Bambam colonies:

 

[doorlady]

I am glad you guys are doing well. I remember the busy days. Enjoy your time with your kids. They grow up too fast. My three kids don't play with me any more

Well Tomoko when your kids grow up they start their on family and all the sudden you are babysitting again, you think you are playing and all the sudden you spend the whole day with a spoiled upset baby that has made you do lots of crazy things to keep them happy. I must say that I still have a 7 & 9 year old, but this granDbaby that I LOVE sooo much is wearign me out!!!!!!.

 

[joejoe1055]

love those shots
great candy cane

 

[Skipper]

:thumbsup:

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Doorlady - Haha, I am not there yet. I am enjoying my free time at the moment (almost free time since I still have one teenager living at home) finally!! My friends seem to be crazy about their grandchildren, too, but I hope I get to enjoy my care free time a bit longer....

And thank you very much for the nice compliments, you guys!!

I am learning to use my camera better. I hope I will be able to take better pictures in the neare future. My brain is struggling with all these fancy photography terms and what they really mean in practice. I still end up taking a whole bunch of pictures and deleting a half of them after all.... I am afraid no real progress in this area

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Here are some pictures for comparison in growth:

Hawkins Blue on 9-10-09:

Hawkins Blue on 1-1-10:

Unknown blue acro in Aug 09:

The same unknown blue acro on 1-1-10:

Pink birdsnest on 9-10-09:

Pink birdsnest on 1-1-10:

Mauve pocillopora in 9-10-09:

1-1-10:

A larger tank picture:

A pink zoanthid colony which doubled its size:

 

[RUGDOG]

nice growth.....awesome full tank shot. everything looks great!
Terry

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you. I am pleased with their growth. Pretty decent growth under those inexpensive Chinese 250W 14K bulbs ($9.99 ea.), isn't it though?

 

[fishdoc11]

The new tank looks great Tomoko

Chris

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you Chris. It's been fun setting the tank up although I had a bit of a rough start. Are you going to be at the swap this month?

 

[coraltastic]

the new tank is looking good.

 

[fishdoc11]

Thank you Chris. It's been fun setting the tank up although I had a bit of a rough start. Are you going to be at the swap this month?

No I won't be able to make this one due to my clinic schedule

 

[Tomoko Schum]

We are gonna miss you Chris, but we understand....

 

[rale2001]

Your tank is beautiful it makes want to add coral to my tank asap. I will be going to nashville in a few weeks. My tank is 6 mons old now illl be uploading pics tonight of my status I'm so looking forward to adding coral I just don't know what to start with.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you for the compliment, rale2001.

You can start with just about any corals except for some really demanding ones such as acropora and other difficult SPS's. Softies are probably the easiest, but a lot of LPS's and even an SPS like montipora digitada or pavona cactus, are easy enough as long as you have enough light and keep the water clean by keeping the bio load low, doing water changes, and using a good skimmer.

Nashville frag swap is a good place to look for nice frags - inexpensive and proven to grow well in aquariums.

 

[Mariner]

Wow Tomoko! Very rapid growth. Looking good!
Mariner

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you, Mariner . The tank still looks sparse to me, but it's looking much better than it did in the summer.

 

[brandon2432]

what is your dosing schedule? and are you running 3 250 watts? I just set up the 210 and am running 2 400 watts but will change for growth like that.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi Brandon,

I am running three 14K 250W MH bulbs with Lumenbright reflectors.

As for the dosing schedule, my calcium reactor and top-off water spiked with just a little bit of pickling lime (to counteract CO2's acidifying effect) do all the supplementing except for occasional additions of Mg with MgCl from BRS and Epsom salt. No other supplement. I change about 15 % of water every two weeks.

I have a refugium with some chaetomorpha, but the chaeto does not grow much at all. Probably due to a very low bio load and insufficient lighting. I am not running GFO presently (I added some when I started the tank but removed in a few months.)

I feed live phyto and rotifers periodically. I do this mainly to keep the cultures alive. I don't know if the live food really does anything for corals directly. I am sure microorganisms in my tank are getting the benefit of it. When I used to collect clownfish babies in the dark with flashlight, I saw bazillions of pods in the tank (my previous tank which received the same treatment as my current 180 do). Corals may feed on some gametes and larvae of spawning microorganisms.

 

[brandon2432]

Thanks. Looks good cant wait to get some frags out of it. The blueberry acro has doubled in size but the rose milli didnt make it through the move.