30G Bow Tank.....Leaping into the darkside

+1 on the Mysis Shrimp, been using it for the last 4 yrs, EVERYTHING loves it!!!

Thanks guys, I bought some Mysis today, and what a change. Both of them were sweeping and diving, this stuff is definitely Clown Crack. I would swear the female clown gave me a look that said "At last, he's read the feeding manual" as she gulped a shrimp whole.

And... another question. Does coraline start off looking white? I've hundreds of little white deposits on the acryllic, I use the mag-cleaner and it feels almost like sand, but then comes off with a firm sweep, so it's not sand being held on by static.
If it is coraline, then this tank is becoming a coraline factory!

Shouldn't start white. More than likely little filter feeders. My chaeto was likely loaded with them. Either pineapple sponges or little feather dusters. If you look at them closely do they spiral a little bit?

Good deal Yeti, I figured the Mysis would do the trick, aint much can turn it down and thats all I feed and my fish are nice and fat.

Oh to be 26 again.....
Matt I wear bi-focal glasses, I have lousy distance vision, and have to have the other part for reading....if I look at them closely...I see very small blurred white things...at 4 inches, I see white dots, and probably at the distance that you could see if they swirl or not, I wonder what you're looking at.
I think I'll just clean the front and sides and leave them on the back, and see what transpires.
And before one of you asks, no, I don't have a magnifying glass... I'm not that blind...yet ;-)

OK I saw this.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23976

What do you think?

I would love to create the wave effect, and I'm thinking the couple of small "dead zones" may be removed without adding a 3rd head, on the other hand, for that I can add another powerhead... looks at my $100 deal, darn it, I have 1 or 2 sitting there, but it won't create the effect.

I'd save up a little more money and look into a controller like a reefkeeper or apex. You can get a Lite or Jr. model for about $30 more than the wavemaker and the controller will run a lot more than just powerheads. I have a Reefkeeper Lite on my 75 and it controls my lights, heater, powerheads (I don't have them set up though). Basically you can get a controller to run anything on your reef depending on how much you want to spend. A reef keeper or apex jr start out at about $100 I think.

I think I must be getting the salinity bug, and bad.

Today was a bad day at work, minimal management cover (Vacation & National Guard duty, so fair reasons to be away), and we were busy, so I was on the go all day. By this afternoon my customer service smile is fixed on my face, liken the look to the one you give the dentist when he welcomes you to his chair... you get the idea.
Then my phone beeps, a picture? Mrs Y sending me a pic, of my clowns, hosting my Green Hairy!!
How sad have I become? My day got brighter, after 4 weeks of trying to get them to notice it, they go and host...when I'm at work.
I swear I felt like the father that misses his kid's first faltering steps, beaming but miffed. BUT... not as miffed as the Green Hairy, it's really miffed at being stroked and loved upon, it keeps shrinking tighter than a dogs butt sitting on a patch of ice.... grins, I thought that was a pretty good description ;-)

Yeah I have all the signs of in-salinity.

Congrats Yeti.. It's a special moment the First time your clowns start hosting... !

I think I may have to look for a bubble anemone, the green hairy is sulking like mad, such that it has hardly opened/extended for 2-3 days. I moved the GHM lower in the tank, and of course Sybil&Sam just followed it (yeah my clowns are named), so I'm thinking that maybe a bubble will entice them away, and not sulk?

Yeti wrote:I think I may have to look for a bubble anemone, the green hairy is sulking like mad, such that it has hardly opened/extended for 2-3 days. I moved the GHM lower in the tank, and of course Sybil&Sam just followed it (yeah my clowns are named), so I'm thinking that maybe a bubble will entice them away, and not sulk?

Give it a little time Yeti, the shroom will get used to the clowns and open up again.

OK, thanks Donnie. I would like to have the tank more established prior to adding any anemone.

My green hairy mushrooms don't even move at all when the clowns lay, swim, bite, smack or whatever else they feel like doing to those guys.

They'll get used to it for sure. :-)

Late evening, relaxing with a chilled glass in my hand, and as I frequently can be found, watching Reef TV.
Tonights episode (and there has rarely been a dull episode so far) is Hermit Moving, starring Red Legged Hermit.
Naturally there is always a bye line story, and tonights was, did you know that a green mushroom changes colour when a hermit drags it's shell over the mushroom? The Mushroom, normally a fairly drab "hunters" green, when the shell of the hermit was dragged over half the surface suddenly shrank a little, less than I expected, but also developed these bright green lines, radiating from the centre.
30 minutes later and all is back to normal.
But the main feature was the Hermit House Move... or not.
It took about 30 minutes. This is one of the Red Legged Hermits I got last week, and it is already in a new shell. (We found shells for about $3 at Michael's hobby & craft store).
Firstly upon finding the alternate empty shell, a quick peek inside.
It backed out, moved to the close/pointed end of the shell, then lifting it and rotating it slowly, out popped an air bubble.
Turning the shell to face the crab, another search inside, and a few bits of gravel were evicted, another search, and then turning it again so the mouth of the shell is facing away, back to rotating, always in the counter direction of the snail shell curl.
Then out poured some more gravel. More turning it again, as the rotation is always done with the mouth of the vacant shell facing away from the hermit, and out popped another air bubble.
Again, the shell is moved so the crab is again facing the opening, and he holds the opening very close to the opening of his shell.

By now I'm stood up, to gain a full view.

Then taking about 2 seconds, out comes it's body, a quick twist, and it slips into the new shell, Still holding the vacated shell opening to the new homes opening.
For about 3 seconds.
Then out the body comes, and slips back into the original shell. Not that suitable I guess.
Even 30 minutes later, it's still holding the empty shell, as though undecided.

I give Reef TV a thumbs up, great viewing, and....... no frelling commercials!

That's awesome! I haven't been able to catch one switching shells yet. :-)

How persistent can snails be? Seems the suction cup of the heater had come slightly lose on the tank, and yes, it had trucked up, lifted the cup, and then found itself trapped.
Then looking at the heater itself, well by gosh! Coraline growth appearing, so then a look at the powerheads, and what I thought was brown algae is infact coraline too.
I kept thinking that the coraline growth on some of the rocks I got from Jason was looking brighter/deeper purple, but as Mrs Y commented "even the turbo's are becoming covered in it."

I've been down with this dratted chest infection for the last week that's hitting Tyler, but hoping to get my sump finished and set up this weekend.
Then I will be able to add more fish, I'm leaning towards a 6 line Wrasse, seem to be fully reef suitable and shrimp friendly, I'd like a "Dory", but they grow to big for my 30. I'd like something that was comfortable "top of tank" swimming
Anthias seem pretty, but difficult.
I would love either a Blackcap Basslet/Gramma, although not sure of it's compatibility with shrimp.
Or a Blue Assessor, lovely colour, but bloody expensive.
Chromis, sorry...boring..yawn.
So it looks like its some type of Damsels, I'm thinking 3-4 so they shoal.

Oh and I saw Snowflake Clowns in Petco last week. Ever been happy you have another type of clown in your tank? They are so-so-so pretty, but I'm not going to try and upset Sybil and Sam.

OK so I thought it was time to reveal just what the tank is looking like. The tank is just under 3 months old, my cycling was shorter than expected due to the amount of live rock I added, and the live sand also from Jason.

Coraline growth has been far more prolific than I expected, and looking back at some of the pics from a couple of months ago I can see just how much that has taken off.

So here goes...........

Full Tank


Left side, as you can see, a Kenya Tree, which was a piece that broke off Mrs Y's "rock of plenty" that came with her JBJ. I shoved it into a hole in the rock shelf, and it's grown 4X in about 2 months (should see her tank for growth of softies!) The Pulsing Blue Xenia is from Gabe. The pulsing took about 3 weeks to start and is so cool to watch, as the ends slowly close and open.


Middle of tank


Right side
The large lump of dead coral is a project in waiting. I think I would like to find 1/2/3 compatible zoas which could spread over the face. Also the Bottle Brush is now starting to gain a branch on the upper surface... growth.. I love to see growth.


The Frag Forest. As most of the frags are used to a high light I placed them as high as I can, I'll see how they get on, and then once I have finalised the rock lay out, I'll try some slow movement to perhaps mid levels.


I like this one as you can see the almost Electric green of the Cats Paw I tried and tried to get shots that would show both the colour and the number of polyp heads on the SPS, but failed. I noticed yesterday that the Green Slimer is actually starting to branch! That is truly gratifying, as I read it's a hard one to keep.


Orange Spotted Goby "Mr Eyebrows", I really like this guy, shy, quiet and totally non aggressive, but just looks good.


The bastions of the Green Hairy Mushroom, all day long Sybil rolls and stroke the GHM, as though she is tied by an unseen umbilical cord. Then once the lights go to the LED night light, she deserts it for the open water at the top of the tank, and Sam takes over the night shift, again rolling in it, like a dog in S**t.


I had seen pics of the Pink Birdsnest, and although it looked OK I hadn't been really taken by it. Then when I got one as part of the frag package off Tony / Grimreefer, and it was in my tank, I can see why it's so popular. I'm excited to see that there are several small white bumps developing on the horizontal branches. This has become one of my favourites. It is much much pinker in the tank.


This is the Snowflake I got off Gabe. As I posted a while ago, the frag had broken into a few pieces, 3 of which I attached to the one piece of rock. They are spreading nicely, I love the blue colour and the small delicate heads of each polyp.


A recent addition, and as a softy lover, this is a great one to watch in the water current, I jammed the base rock into a small crevice in the rock, and it's only been a couple of weeks and already starting to spread it's base onto the rock.


This is something Jason gave me when I got my live rock from him (along with some Texas trash, which you may have noticed is growing like a weed.... thanks buddy :-) I have no idea what this is, but it like's it here, as it's spreading off the frag.


My intention is to allow the coraline to spread over the back of the tank, and if possible the left side of the tank, that being said I'm wondering about the possibility of getting some frag plugs, drilling out the stem of the plug and inserting a magnet, then placing a magnet on the outside of the back of the tank. That way I can attach softies.

Yeti
Looks like your jump into the darkside is working well! For three months that tank looks fantastic, you can be very proud of what you have accomplished thus far. very nice coralline growth also!

Looking good Yeti!

Sweeeet!!! :-)

Good work buddy!

Yeti wrote:OK so I thought it was time to reveal just what the tank is looking like.

Past due if you ask me!

Yeti wrote:I'm leaning towards a 6 line Wrasse, seem to be fully reef suitable and shrimp friendly,
I would love either a Blackcap Basslet/Gramma, although not sure of it's compatibility with shrimp.
Or a Blue Assessor, lovely colour, but bloody expensive.
Chromis, sorry...boring..yawn.
So it looks like its some type of Damsels, I'm thinking 3-4 so they shoal.

Sixlines are cool fish but they can be aggressive. Mine wouldn't leave my Royal Gramma or my mandarin alone. The gramma was quick enough to hide but it stayed hidden all day. The mandarin was almost killed by the wrasse. The sixlines are awesome fish though if that's what you want to keep. Mine used to do a sideways dance along the front glass when I walked by.

You yawn at Chromis but look into Blue Reef Chromis, not the blue/green ones. I had one for months and it was one of the coolest fish I've ever had. I'm not sure what happened to mine, it just recently vanished but I will be looking to get another. Open water swimmers, non aggressive and they have some personality. I've read though that if you keep more than one they will just kill each other off until there is only one left.

I have no experience with black cap basslets but royal grammas are maybe my favorite of all.

3 or 4 damsels won't shoal. They will just run each other ragged around the tank and probably harass anything else you keep in there.

Check out Bangaii cardinals too. If I was to start over again I would not have a tank without a pair of Bangaiis. They can reproduce in aquariums also which is cool and you can become our local supplier of Bangaii.

Tank looks great! I'd suggest looking at the Blue Reef Chomis also.. maybe the Orange Line Cardinal. Not a fan of the Bangaii

Tank is looking great man!! I've got a huge Bangaii and we love him, really cool fish. Also have a Royal Gramma and 3 blue/green chromis. The Chromis will shoal. We've had the Gramma for a long time and its my wife's favorite. Not a fan of damsels!!

Thanks guys for the compliments, but I would point out I've been reading the experts posts on here for several months, and had lots of support in getting the tank like this.

Blue Reef Chromis looks like a nice option, maybe 3 so they would school.
Then either a Royal Gamma or the 6 line Wrasse ( a gamble, but I love the way they seem to cruise the rocks), I'm not sure if the Gamma is a rock cruiser or a hole dweller.

The gramma isn't a rock cruiser. The six line is a better choice if that's what your looking for.

Congrats on your first reef tank. You're definitely doing it right.