Oceanic 215 with Solaris Build - Page 6

Me No Nemo · #**126** 12/12/2007, 10:00 PM

Thanks all! Yep, I love the chocolate tang...will be the only tang in there. Well, you can't normally see the stripes...that was from all the sand in the water from my crazy clown fish. She was stirring stuff up so much she was creating a major sand storm!

bulfraw215 · #**127** 12/13/2007, 11:37 PM

Marcye,
Sound like you are having a great time with your new tank. Keep up the good work and we want more pictures.

Chris

Me No Nemo · #**128** 12/14/2007, 12:01 AM

Hi Chris...thanks! There's a very nice teal acro in my shop that's just SCREAMING at me to take it home! Man am I tempted! (BTW, do you have a name for the white with purple polyp acro you gifted me? That is probably the most incredible acro ever! I've been searching and not coming up with anything.)

Everything's doing very well, almost.

My very wicked female maroon clown has tunneled under the rock on the entire left side of the tank and collapsed some of the rock. All's well with every thing, but I'm going to have to rebuild and fortify that whole side. Since she is a blood thirsty beast, we'll have to get clever to do this with not bloodshed (I'm serious...she doesn't just nip...she tears!)

Besides that the corals seem to be doing well. Great polyp extension, subtle but obvious coloration. Just looks so bare! I think I need to find some more corals to fill it out a bit. I have a "super male" square spot anthias on order...hopefully he'll be in next week. I've had my female for probably 5 or 6 years now and she's never flipped to a male. But, now that I have the smaller female I have to wonder if that will cause her to begin the change. Don't want to chance two males so I'm moving quick on gettting a male in there. One other small problem is my large female anthias does have a small white "growth" on her lower lip. I think she scraped herself at some point during the chase and move so it should heal up on its own. Thought at first lymph, but looking more like a mild bacterial infection.

Bluespot Jaw is definitely bunkered down in the hideout. He's right up front, exactly where I wanted him to be.

I'm leaving before my lights are on and just missing them at night. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to grab more pics. I also ordered a new macro lens for my camera, so hopefully that will arrive by then as well. Marcye

bulfraw215 · #**129** 12/14/2007, 08:08 AM

Marcye,
I think it is A.Nasuta this is my best guess when looking at Veron Vol. #1
I think you should take the teal one home there might be another in your future same with the purple polyp.
Just a thought
Chris

Me No Nemo · #**130** 12/14/2007, 09:28 PM

I agree, Chris...I think Atlantis calls it Raspberry Lemonade or some such. Either way I love it and it's coming home soon...thanks soo much!

Well, now the bad news. My stand won't be done until after Christmas. I had to pull my cabinet maker onto some custom items at work so he'll be working on the stand the Friday and SAturday after Christmas. Oh, well, I've decided to cover the base in gift wrap and a big bow to look festive

Maybe I'll find some Nemo Wrap....

Well, here's a video of the tank tonight. Keep in mind that I can't adjust the white balance on the video so it looks much bluer than in person. I'm very pleased with my flow. With just the (4) returns on Dart plus two Vortech's, you really have to search for the plumbing which is exactly what I wanted. My biggest pet peeve is seeing all kinds of pipes that take away from the natural look of the tank.The sand is gently moving on the surface and my cleanup crew is doing a fantastic job of keeping everything looking great.

melev · #**131** 12/14/2007, 09:36 PM

The tank looks nice and clean, and I love the back wall the way it is. Cleaning it isn't fun, but the reef looks better with a clean backdrop.

Me No Nemo · #**132** 12/14/2007, 09:46 PM

Thanks! I totally agree, Marc. I really think a clean, black, backdrop really shows off your coral and fish colors best. No cleaning it isn't fun, but I'll tell my husband you said "good job." (Short arms...darn that 30" tank

Me No Nemo · #**133** 12/14/2007, 09:46 PM

BTW, those aren't dead snails on the front sandbed..those are empty shells for my Blue Spot Jaw to use on his home. He's crazy...if I put them in front of his home...he'll grab them swim away and drop them. If I put them there, he'll swim over, grab one and use it to build his home. Notice I said "him."

wabio · #**134** 12/15/2007, 08:42 AM

So how are the shimmer lines now that you added the Vortechs? Are you still planning on adding Powerbrites?

Me No Nemo · #**135** 12/16/2007, 01:16 AM

The shimmer lines aren't bad at all. Not as much as the MH, but certainly obvious. Right now, I'm happy with the lighting as it is so I don't think I need to add the Powerbrites.

Very interesting development: I've had a female squareback anthias for several years in the tank that I moved over from the 90. Of all the fish I've kept in the past 10 years or so, I've only lost 2: a midas blenny that dove into the carpet anemone when it was startled and my squareback anthias male who got lockjaw and I euthanised him since he couldn't eat. Well, this female has gotten very large and I added a smaller female last week and was going to add a male next week. Well, my large female, today, is sporting the beginning of a purple square on her side...so after all these years alone, she's turning into a male! I just find all this so amazing. I guess Reefartist was right...I must have some Love potion in the mix!

ReefArtist · #**136** 12/16/2007, 12:34 PM

Nice video Marcye - love the Torch and Duncans, they look as though they are getting plenty of flow - LOL. So, do you have everything from your 90 in the new tank now? I just put 4 containers of Reef Pods in my tank - hoping to knock a few months off my nutrient time.

That is so cool about the female anthias. So are you still going with the addition of the other male or add more females?

Me No Nemo · #**137** 12/16/2007, 03:55 PM

Well, I think my plans are going to have to change and we're going to need all female anthias. This is an amazingly fast transformation. This female NEVER showed any signs of morphing to a male until last week when the new small female was added. Here are some pics to show the current changes:

Here you can see the new female behind her (him?). Note the lengthening of the bottom and rear fins and the white tips. Also, note the slight pink patch on the side!

Me No Nemo · #**138** 12/16/2007, 07:48 PM

Here's a pic of the anthias from about two years ago to show the difference:

mflamb · #**139** 12/16/2007, 09:04 PM

Hi Marcye,
I'm planning on 3 species of Anthias, all female. I don't want to add any males to keep down agression. I haven't been able to find any info about males of one species with females of another species. I would imagine that at least one of the females will morph into a male. What do you think?

bulfraw215 · #**140** 12/16/2007, 10:22 PM

I think it great to see nature at it best in an aquarium.

Me No Nemo · #**141** 12/16/2007, 11:12 PM

Mike, I think in each group you will have one morph into a male. Case in point is mine. Wow, she's been a lone female for at least 4 years since the male died and as soon as I placed another female, within days she began the transformation. It's pretty mind blowing!!! Like you, at first it was my thought, as well, to do several species of anthias, but continued reading hasn't turned up any hard evidence that I'll be able to keep to all female groups and I haven't seen any male anthias that will tolerate another in the same tank. If I even have them next to each other in display tanks, they'll scrape themselves up trying to get to each other through the partition. Sorry for the bad news

mflamb · #**142** 12/17/2007, 07:40 AM

Do you think a female of each species will morph?

chiefzod · #**143** 12/18/2007, 09:32 PM

So how are you finding the Solaris lights? Are you happy with them?

Just curious as i'm thinking of getting rid of my 2 400w halides and getting one of the new 48" Solaris lights for the tank. I will be keeping mostly SPS and Clams.

Me No Nemo · #**144** 12/18/2007, 10:12 PM

Mike, I'm doing some research for you. I've never kept several females of different species, nor has anyone I've asked so far. I'll let you know if I find anyone who's tried it.

So far, I love the Solaris light. I now have the whites down to 45% and the blues 100%. Coral colors are changing. It'll be interesting to see how they do. I really don't have any blue corals in there yet. I did place a small piece of wild Lokani and it bleached out, so I removed it. One of the two Aussie elegance is definitely changing...I"m watching it to make sure it's not under too much light. All fish are doing well. The female anthias is probably half way through the change. The purple square is getting noticably darker. I'll be adding another small female this week. With a larger harem, I'm hoping for a super male. We had to rebuild the left side as the clowns had collapsed some of the rock so we fortified it. Of course my poor husband was under attach the whole time, but managed to get the rock moved and smaller rocks underneath to prevent it from happening again. I'll try to post some more pics soon.

ReefArtist · #**145** 12/19/2007, 07:28 AM

Looking great Marcye! Thanks for the reminder, I need to make sure my clay rocks are on a firm surface. I have lots of diggers (pistol shrimp - goby's etc). Don't want to have to climb in these big tanks to often.

Me No Nemo · #**146** 12/30/2007, 01:06 AM

Well, been very busy lately and just haven't been able to play with the camera to try to get some decent pics. The tank 45% on the whites and my have to drop them even more. My acros are doing very well...except the one I lost to the Vortech (too close...blew the skin right off!).

I lost one lobophyllia that, despite being only 1/2 up on the rock was still under too much light...really upset about that one as it was purple center with an orange exterior. All the fish except one are doing very well. I lost the powder brown tang...the only fish I bought outside my normal place. It was actually a pity buy as he was pretty thin and I hated leaving him to just die. At least I tried. I'll get another soon from my normal source and I'm sure I'll have better luck.

My Suharsonoi is getting very green and has excellent polyp extension. My Banana Austera is getting more color and my elegance is doing fantastic.

The blue spot jaw is happily entrenched within his fortress and eats like a pig...he's truly my favorite fish to watch...goofy as anything!

The female anthias appears to have finished her transformation to male. I will soon add a third female and will wait a while before adding any more fish.

My cabinet is coming along nicely and will have some custom panels in the front. Will be in touch with the designer very soon to get those started.

Here are a couple pics from today showing the progress so far:

Me No Nemo · #**147** 12/30/2007, 01:17 AM

Here's some update pics from start to current. Happily the end is in sight!

melev · #**148** 12/30/2007, 01:32 AM

It looks really nice, I like how you recessed the tank and main stand slightly.

erics3000 · #**149** 12/30/2007, 02:41 AM

Looks really nice.

ReefArtist · #**150** 12/30/2007, 09:12 AM

Looking fantastic Marcye! The woodworking is wonderful, it's so hard the get the ends to butt together so cleanly and clearly he did a great job.

will you be putting a ledge on the lip right below the tank?