Matt's 29g Custom LED

I love how the Clown is just laying there

I added a pic of my dendro as well.

Thanks gabe. And Jose... those clowns lay on top of that exact mushroom but even further down into a crack in the rock all the time. They sleep there. They get so far down in there you can barely see them sometimes.

Got my new moonlighting hooked up last night. Took some pics this morning. I also got all of my frags placed in the tank. :-)

Acan


War Coral & Duncan


Clam


Meteor Shower


Full Tank Shot

Saweeeet!

I still see sand.....LOL

My Purple Deaths finally opened up today. They've been playing peek-a-boo with me all week. This is just under my white LEDs. In 20 minutes I get to see the blues kick on and enjoy the true purple. :-)

purple deaths are some sick pallys! when you frag these leme know

It'll be awhile before these get fragged. Only 3 full grown polyps, 2 small ones as well. The good news about these is that you can feed them small meat easily, so they will grow faster. I already fed them earlier today, and they looked amazing once the blue LEDs kicked on.

Once everything in my tank grows out I'll be paying back some coop folks first, then I'll put some in coop for everyone.

So tonight was my first time feeding with garlic added to the food... and I've got to say Whoa! I didn't expect that. My fish went insane for that stuff. They went after it. My corals extended further than I had ever seen... and I don't just mean 1 or 2 of them did... all of them did. The favia's tentacles were out twice as far as they usually are (almost reached one of my zoa frags) all of my zoas fully opened up... my purple deaths had their skirts going up and down (which is common for paly's but was the first I had seen mine). So all in all... +1 on garlic. Very cool.

The only "bad news" is that the mandarin still hasn't eaten anything that I've tried to spot feed him with. He hasn't run me out of pods... so he still has plenty of food around for him to search for.

I'm sure you already know but even if the mandarin does eat frozen it still needs that food constantly. They eat about 21 hours out of the day and would probably eat around the clock if there was enough light for them to see. I don't think there's any way to keep a mandarin fed with frozen. You might end up having to buy pods to add to the tank for food and that can get pricey unless you start raising your own. If you see any signs of him getting thin I would get him out quick.

Jason's 220 is the backup plan. lol. I've got a lot of pods right now. I'm assuming the mandarin isn't searching for food right now because of the new tank, but once he does I expect him to wipe out my pod population pretty quick. At the moment I still have a ton... it just seems he isn't eating them. I have a lot in my chaeto and in my rock rubble area that he can't get to, so he won't completely wipe them out. He's an amazing fish. I'll enjoy looking at him in mine daily or once in awhile in Jasons either way. :-)

Here's the new fish... my Mandarin Goby.




Another pic of the Purple Deaths


Yellow Zoas


My Clam... I'm beginning to wonder... Crocea or Maxima?


My Clowns, still no names. Might end up sticking that way...




Goblin Fire Zoas, finally fully opened and looking great.


Here they are under the blues. They look better in person. The orange skirts are amazing.


Dendro - I love this thing!


Kedd Redds - Not a great pic... but the best I've been able to get thus far.


My duncan has grown a TON since I picked it up. Still looking great. I still need to attach it to the rock.


Pink Birdsnest... not a good pic. Didn't get a good one. Only shown for growth.


Candy Apple Red Zoas - My favorite thing in the tank right now. I can see why people are paying $20 a polyp in some places!


My frogspawn. His tentacles are not out in this pic... he is much larger when they are. Has to be double the size he was when I got it from gabe. :-)

Matt,
Tank looks real good. I agree that the LEDs are sweet. I been thinking about getting some as well.

Looks great Matt. You're doing a good job on that tank. I think that clam is a crocea because of the smooth shell. A maxima would have scutes on the shell.

I've been tring to tell for sure. I'm leaning towards crocea. That would explain it being open so often as well.

Tank looks great Matt but I think the clam is a Maxima, You don't usually see a Crocea that small being sold and its so little there wouldn't be many scutes on the shell. I may be totally wrong but I say Maxima. I've never seen a gold Crocea that color either. Either way, you are doing good with it growing!

Yeah... I'm not sure either way at the moment. I can't figure out why it's staying open so often. I'm cool with him staying open, looks better. He is in very high lighting, right along side my growing SPS. I've tried him lower in the tank as well and he looks the same either way. Any idea why he would stay open so often? He looks better than he ever has... and he keeps getting more and more purple each week. He was nearly brown when I first got him... now a purpleish maroon would best describe his color.

If it is in good health it should stay open 24/7 they only close up if something is wrong. They have to be open to collect light just like your corals, Staying open is good.

Don't maximas usually only show their mantle? Mine is fully open all day...

Where did you get it? My clams close a little at night but not fully. They just pull the mantles in some.

Grabbed it at Petco. They said it was a Maxima... but all pics of Maxima's show them extending their mantle, but not opening wide like mine does so often. I see Crocea's open wide like that... but the mantle's "shape" seems to be more maxima. The shell is quite smooth. Seems to have 1 row of scutes. Either way it's looking and seemingly doing well.

If you got it from Petco then it's probably a maxima. Aren't the ones they sell ORA maximas? I'm sure Petco could get it mixed up but I wouldn't think ORA would. After looking at old pics of my maxima it only had one or 2 scutes up at the top and the bottom was smoother but they were good sized scutes and not just little ripples in the shell. I guess when it grows you'll find out for sure.

It was not listed as a Maxima... they had it labeled as a green blah blah blah thing (that's the common name, not the latin). It was labeled wrong so they sold it for that labeled items price ($25). Either way I love the clam, love the price I paid for it.

Yeah, they get them in as a Green Damacornis but they are gold Maximas, Thats how I got my gold one from them a few months back, the one that did pretty good for a while then died but it was in their tanks for about a month before I bought it, you got yours the day it came in.

Nice dendro thinking about may be getting one down the road when I get a 150 gal. How hard are they to care for??