OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef - Page 31

jnarowe · #**751** 09/21/2006, 01:30 AM

hmmm...I have the psi at 20 and a faster bubble rate I think.

Enderrea · #**752** 09/27/2006, 03:45 PM

So how is the new reaction chamber doing? did you get that seam leak fixed? how aobut those baskets is it fully functional?

jnarowe · #**753** 09/27/2006, 10:04 PM

fully functional beer in me. Seam leak is good. still have to make the Ca baskets. Just finished the carbon/floss basket. It's is working well. STOKED Tank is looking good, SPS, LPS, Polyps all growing.

Chrisrush · #**754** 09/28/2006, 08:07 AM

Johnathan,
I've been following along with your thread for quite some time and you've done a great job. I was in Seattle last week on vacation. Great place. We drove through Poulsbo on our way up to Port Townsend.

jnarowe · #**755** 09/28/2006, 09:47 AM

Cool. PT is really nice too. They are having an event next weekend I will be attending built around mechanical devices for traveling on land and water. It's called the The Great Port Townsend Kinetic Sculpture Race. It's always hilarious.

Too bad you didn't contact me when you came through, but maybe next time!

Chrisrush · #**756** 09/28/2006, 09:55 AM

Yea, my aunt was talking about that festival. I guess PT has festivals all the time. We went up to the tavern up there and had lunch with the brewmaster. He's got some wicked hot beer made with jalapenos

I thought about giving you a ring, but I was with my wife and her aunt, plus, I had no idea where Poulsbo was until we got on the road.

bskiba · #**757** 09/28/2006, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chrisrush
I had no idea where Poulsbo was until we got on the road.

That is very common. we try to keep those people on that side of the water. You did miss out on seeing this thing. still think the skimmer is the best part.

jnarowe · #**758** 09/28/2006, 02:04 PM

you haven't seen my reactor running yet though!

Chrisrush · #**759** 09/28/2006, 02:31 PM

Yea, I'll have to swing by there next time I'm out of civilization.

jnarowe · #**760** 09/28/2006, 02:42 PM

jnarowe · #**761** 10/01/2006, 10:10 PM

Just a quick update.

My tank is doing well. The Vortech pumps have improved quite a bit with the latest modifications. My fuge is back on track. I suspect that I have too much light on it and because the throughput is low the water may be warming up too much. At any rate, I have some new cheato that is growing really well and I also popped in a couple of grasses including maiden hair. I am tryig the grasses because they tend to need more light than other macros FWIU.

The multi-media reactor is working well too. I am still having problems with the CO2 feed where I have to turn it up about every other day. I wonder how long until the needle falls out??

Anyway, the tank has slowly improved on the Ca and Alk front and it is currently stabilized at 8.8 dKh and 390 ppm Ca. I am really happy that the reactor is working well and plan to build the final 2 baskets within the next couple of weeks.

Animal update: All is well. The fish are very healthy and growing well except for those darn blue/green chromis that eat like nut cases but don't grow at all...behaviors of all fish and inverts are all excellent.

I may trade one of the giant GBTAs at the frag swap this month. One of our more notorious local reefers wants them all but I will only part with one. Her personal anemone/clown tank is like a multi-chamber store display but larger. It is huge and she houses a very large number of anemones and clowns.

Another local reefer who lives a mere 1/4 mile from me brought by a Sailfin tang today. He is the one whose tank was leaking and I housed his reef animals while he got a new tank. So the Sailfin was a bit of an impulse buy since his new tank was quite a bit larger than the old one. It has lateral line disease which he didn't see when making the purchase. We'll see how it does but so far it is tasting everything and eating quite well. He has had 3 meals today...I guess that kills the deal on adding a vlamingi!

I think I am done stocking fish for a while.

bskiba · #**762** 10/01/2006, 11:12 PM

Time too move on to more coral now that your CA and ALK are stable.

Hop · #**763** 10/02/2006, 01:34 AM

Nice to see things are balancing out

Definitely time for a massive centerpiece!

jnarowe · #**764** 10/02/2006, 10:04 AM

You guys are right. I do have a nice blue tort growing right in the center.

Brad, if you saw that "brown" acro you would flip. I think I may have lost the cup coral though. I haven't seen any PE in about a week.

After going through Scott Michael's book Reef Aquarium Fishes I have found that he believes several of my "vegetarian" fish nibble on coral polyps. Interestingly enough, he does not report that for the hepatus tang which we all know through Marc's experience, is definitely a problem.

I am coming to the conclusion that the elegance got nibbled to death and the primary suspect is my seriously fat foxface lo. So I am realizing I may have a tank FULL of trouble-makers!

melev · #**765** 10/02/2006, 10:34 AM

That does happen to some. I was talking with Evan about how I'm a little leery about getting a new Copperband Butterfly, in case the next one wants to eat the blue Maxima in my tank.

mrcrab · #**766** 10/02/2006, 10:53 AM

My copperband has been in the tank for about 9 months now and hasn't even look at my crocea.

I think it depends on the fish and how well you feed them.

I did by some balsto's at the last local meeting that my emperor has seemed to take a liking to.

jnarowe · #**767** 10/02/2006, 11:16 AM

It is interesting to note the different personalities and eating habits within the same family. I have had "bad luck" with LPS but am now thinking it may not be me...I do have one lobophylia right now that is doing very well and the candy canes are fine, but LPS has been a problem area for me. Maybe some just taste that good?

I think the CBB is not worth the effort but I have been tempted to get one for my aptaisia problem. I feed heavy and skim hard, which still gives the aptaisia a lot of food to thrive on.

mrcrab · #**768** 10/02/2006, 11:23 AM

I bought my cbb from a guy who was breaking down. He already had it trained on bloodworms. I'm never seen it pick at any of my corals.

jnarowe · #**769** 10/02/2006, 11:32 AM

buying a trained CBB? Now that's cheating!

bskiba · #**770** 10/02/2006, 05:26 PM

that is the perfect fish to wait for a teardown.

jnarowe · #**771** 10/05/2006, 06:19 PM

Couple of interesting discoveries today:

1. There is some kind of larvae on the surface of the fuge. Many of them and they appear to have legs. Never seen it before. They look a bit like pods.

2. I have found what I believe to be clown eggs. They do not have the same coloration as those in Marc's (melev) pictures. His look fairly golden and these seem to be more translucent. They are in a shaded area though so that may acocunt for the color difference. The clowns are paying a lot of attention to the clutch and the male is agressively fanning them to the point of nearly beating them.

Not sure if I should do anything at this point but occassionally it looks like the male is eating one.

Also, my aptaisia is getting out of control.

mrcrab · #**772** 10/05/2006, 06:44 PM

Need to get a trained CBB!

jnarowe · #**773** 10/05/2006, 07:30 PM

no doubt!

BigEasy · #**774** 10/05/2006, 10:28 PM

your clown male may very well be eating some of them. Also your eggs may not be a viable clutch with the coloration you have described. I would leave this clutch alone and see what happens. Since they are spawning, leaving them undisturbed and well fed may yield more eggs in the future. Then you get to go through the work of trying to raise the clutch.

Best of luck

jnarowe · #**775** 10/05/2006, 10:34 PM

Thanks!

So I scooped up some of the "larvae" from the fuge, along with some chaeto, a small brown mushy ball, and what appears to be a dense tuft on microalgae about the size of a marble.

I left it all in a bowl of tank water and came back an hour later to check on it. I think the larvae were just pods on the surface, and I just haven't seen so many like that at one time.

There were several worms doing the "dance", as well as tiny aptaisia.

Most interesting was that there was a purple swirl cloud in the bowl. When I picked up the bowl, it dispersed. Now that was weird. I have never seen anything like that.