Taking the Plunge

[conorwynne]

I have linked from NG's as well. Very impressed so far, you sure your a total noob?

You seem to be well aware of everything so far. Cooking rock, chekcing params, RO, everything!
The force is strong with this one.

What do you plan on keeping?
Have you planned your lighting and flow requirements?

Make your own food eh Chris. Interesting...

Reards
Conor.

[Schwe]

conorwyne,

you are much too kind. I'm just mildly OCD and read for HOURS before actually doing something and throwing money away.

We had our first casualty today. I came home from work to feed the fish and found one of the chromis sucked into a powerhead. Glad it wasn't one of the clowns and I didn't kill it from lack of care, but also bummed to lose him. These guys have a lot of character.

I forgot to mention that we had our first flood a week ago. I was filling a bucket with RO/DI and flaked out, forgot it was on, and flooded our spare bedroom/hallway. The RO is hooked up to our laundry room and dripped over the dryer, onto the floor, and under the wall into the adjacent room. The icing on the cake? We have wall to wall carpeting. I spent a few hours sucking water out of the carpets/floors with our carpet shampooer-- which is a GREAT investment for reefers with carpeting in these situations. Just stomping on towels trying to soak it up would NOT suffice. We had about 20 gallons of water on the floor.

I'm debating on whether to use a koralia 3 or 4 in the tank, I plan on using two in the tank.

As far as corals, I'd like to start out with softies, then sps much later down the road. I really like the look of the bird's nest.

For lighting I would like to use T5's because my canopy is too close to the water for MH's.

I would like one tang.. maybe a Hippo tang. I really like the yellow tangs but they need a LOT of room. Any suggestions on what kind of tang I can keep happy in a 90?

I'd like to maintain a mini-ecosystem, with noncompetitive fish that all play their role in the tank. A mandarin for pods, a blenny for the sand, etc.

[chris wright]

Sorry to hear about your chromis. Unfortunately some fish get sick without us being aware of it until, as you found out, there stuck to a powerheads intake.

In a 90 gallon tank you can have a yellow tang. In the fish forum, can't think of it's exact name, there is a sticky, which is a permenant post, of the recommended size of your tank to suit most of the popular tangs in the hobby. Worth checking out, so you don't have critics later.

Flooded the floor Any honest reefer will tell you the same has happened to them. I put my buckets in the laundry sink now, as I have done the same trick as you twice This way if it overflows, it's not a problem, except when you go out and forget it's on

As for your flow, since you are planning sps i'd go the k4's. Softies handle flow quite well, not to direct. You can direct the flow, so think about how you aquascape and placement of corals. Softies and LPS lower in the tank, SPS up high.

I have no experience with MH, but I love T5's. I don't have heat issues, and you can have more bulbs of different colours. However, with more bulbs and a hood, make sure you put in some fans to blow out excess heat

Oh yeah, hold off on the mandarin until your tank ages and settles in. Blennies are great and so are corris wrasses, here's a picture of mine, about 2 years old, marvellous fish.



Cheers

Chris

[Schwe]

Chris,
Thank you for your input!!

I was definitely going to hold off on the mandarin until I had a nice buffet of pods for him to eat in my tank. We're going to just stick with the clowns until the tank ages more.

I noticed some translucent tubes in the rockwork the other day. They don't seem to be aiptasia or any kind of anemone. I wish my camera was working so that I could post a pic... I'm about to just go out and buy a new camera, LOL. This thing is a piece of crap.

anywho... the tubes look like they might be some sort of tube worm?? I don't know, I haven't poked at them yet to see if they retract. I was staring at my tank (bf thinks I'm weird) and noticed a BUNCH more of these translucent tubes/arms in the back of the rockwork, as compared to a couple of 1"x1" spots on the front side.

Any ideas folks?

[howdy777]

just be careful, it's an obsession big time... what I learned is the project was half the fun... I spent a lot of time with the set-up and plumbing of my 125 and that was a lot of fun... now I'm starting a new project - freshwater... good luck..

[chris wright]

Definately an obsessive hobby

Translucent tubes, do they have a very slight colour to them? maybe light pinks, blues or greens? I would suspect it's a tunicate, which are going to be good and diverse for your system. I'm only learning about them myself, as I have a different type in my system.

I've got sponges and stuff growing in my system, in a canister filter, but they are a definate white. Tube worms have usually got more of a rock colour to them, and the case is brittle. If you touch it and it breaks, then it's more than likely to be a tube worm/ feather duster of some sort.

I'm only guessing, but the description fits. Look up Rhopalaes sp, for more information, best in Anthony Calfo's and Robert Fenner's book on reef invert's, or google. There may not be that much info about though. If the link doesn't work, go into the galleries section, click on under water images, then sponges and have a look at the clear tubes. These photo's are taken in thailand, but they are just from a different region

Have a look at this page and see if this looks something like it, only on a smaller scale,

Tunicates Rhopalaea sp


Good luck

Cheers

Chris

[Schwe]

Went to the LFS today for some hermits, left with a Diamond Watchman Goby.

I did get 10 zebra hermits that went to town on the rockwork right away. I was tempted by the Starry Blenny, but decided to go with the Goby because I feel that my tank has more food for the Goby than the Blenny right now. Will I be able to house both a Starry Blenny and a Diamond Goby at one point?

He hid for maybe an hour, then started sifting sand like a sand-sifting-mandman. I have a bit of a sand storm from the silt in the sand, but it is very mild and I expect my skimmer to clear it up with time.

Chris,
I'm starting to be convinced that they are sponges, but not T. rhopalaea. They look more like many arms of an anemone, and are clear white.


yeah... I've definitely been bitten by the bug.

[chris wright]

Goby and the blenny are both nice fish, I just don't know about compatability. But, sometimes fish get along and sometimes they don't.

Well if they are sponges, then that'll be just as good

Cheers

[Schwe]

I touched them with the handle of my fish net, and they did not retract. Does that make sponge a positive ID?

The diamond goby has done some serious landscaping in the front of the tank, almost completely covering one of the flat rocks at the base. He's a really funny guy, even the boyfriend took a seat in front of the tank to marvel at his work.

[Redstratplayer]

Need a FTS.

[Schwe]

Need a FTS.

Trust me, I would love to post one.. but the camera isn't being recognized by the computer.

[chris wright]

Originally posted by Schwe
I touched them with the handle of my fish net, and they did not retract. Does that make sponge a positive ID?

The diamond goby has done some serious landscaping in the front of the tank, almost completely covering one of the flat rocks at the base. He's a really funny guy, even the boyfriend took a seat in front of the tank to marvel at his work.

It would be a good assumption to make. I think I know what you are talking about, so yeah I'll say sponge Very cool

Cheers

Chris

[Schwe]

My astrea snail took a field trip to the overflow.. I kept an eye on him and luckily he just grazed on some gunk and made it out on his own.

The Goby made a burrow under a rock overnight, landscaped around it all day, then sealed it. Weirdo.

I'm thinking I need a filter sock to clear out the silt he's stirring up and then we shouldn't have a cloudy water problem.

The clowns ate a couple of Formula 1 pellets, then chewed and spit the rest out. I think they're still juveniles and it just isn't comfortable to eat even the small pellets just yet. I picked up some more frozen food today for variety. I felt uncomfortable with them just eating the brine shrimp.

Now their menu consists of:
-Brine Shrimp
-frozen Cyclopeeze
-Mysis Shrimp
-Marine Cuisine "carnivorous diet"
-Formula One
-Formula Two
-Spectrum Pellets

(the pellets are hit or miss for maybe one being eaten)

I met up with a local reefer at an LFS and got some Chaeto for my fuge and a cupful of sand from his few year old tank. Very nice guy... thank god for local clubs and charitable souls!

I've been bitten by the bug so bad, I'm breaking down my 20 planted tank and already planning on making that at least a quarantine tank.. maybe a nano. But shhhh... the bf doesn't know yet (well, I mentioned QT but not reef)

If I hadn't spent so much cash on Christmas, I would've purchased a new camera by now. Then again, my TV is paid off next month..

[chris wright]

Definately a big bite

[Schwe]

Some good news...

I posted a question regarding the compatibility of my Diamond Goby and a Starry Blenny on RC's fishes section. sk8r replied with an indefinite answer, but said that my goby would starve to death in anything under a 100.

Well, when feeding the pigs (chromis & clowns) the goby, feeling compelled to prove his pig-worthiness, grabbed a huge chunk of the Marine Cuisine and strutted around the sandbed with a mouthful of it like a little glutton. I then dropped some F1 pellets and he ate those, too.

So, no starving Gobies here!

The tank still looks so barren, I wish I could add something to spice it up. I'm being patient (or trying to) and waiting for the tank to be more stable.

Any suggestions on future additions, though? Maybe a feather duster because it isn't photosynthetic?