Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread

[Aquarist007]

sorry about the cardinal

the birdsnest looks great

why not move one of the palys up high on the reef and see how it does?

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by Bill14
Sorry about the cardinal.

Nice Birds of Paradise. I just picked up one myself, but yours looks much nicer.

Thanks... I'm still not sure what happened... it looked like something attacked it yesterday... so who knows???

As far as the BoP... thanks... it took me a LONG time to finally get it colored up, and looking the way I wanted it. I'm sure yours will get there much faster than it took me.

Originally posted by OwNeD162
Sorry to hear about the cardinal too TJ
I just picked one up myself yesterday
But he won't come out of the back corner of the tank during the day... At night he will, but as soon as the lights come on here's back there... I know its early days, but any suggestions?

They're great little additions... if you can get them to eat. I had a lot of trouble after we purchased the first one, and went through 2 replacements until we could find a mate.

As far as the behavior you're noticing... that's pretty much what mine do all day long. Hang out in the back corners under a shelf out of the high flow and traffic of the Bartlett's. Then come out for feeding time.

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
sorry about the cardinal

the birdsnest looks great

why not move one of the palys up high on the reef and see how it does?

Thanks Scott. I'm finally happy with the color out of that piece, and all my SPS has begun to look MUCH better with the increase in lighting.

The problems all started with the addition of the 2nd pendant. Also, the behavior I am witnessing leads me to believe lighting is the culprit... the stalks all shortened up (polyps are squished down on the plug), and the have shrunken up in size as well.

Once I get to 30 or 40 polyps of each, I may start experimenting, but for now... it's too risky, and I don't want to lose my colonies. Although, I will say that the Candy Apple Red Palythoas seem to tolerate the intense lighting the best.

[OwNeD162]

Originally posted by Tswifty
They're great little additions... if you can get them to eat. I had a lot of trouble after we purchased the first one, and went through 2 replacements until we could find a mate.

As far as the behavior you're noticing... that's pretty much what mine do all day long. Hang out in the back corners under a shelf out of the high flow and traffic of the Bartlett's. Then come out for feeding time.

Yer, he's really awesome to look at
He seems to be eating just fine too, so hopefully he continues to do well in my tank

Really ... I was hoping he would eventually come out and hang in the open all day... The LFS where I picked mine up from have a big display tank, and there are about 5 cardinals in there, and they all just hang out in an open spot at the front all day...

[melev]

Bengaii Cardinal fish are nocturnal by nature. They will be far more active late at night.

[H.Veras]

hey TJ just learned something new today here.... how to clean my vortechs hahahah... BTW your tank is looking good.. sorry about your cardinal....

[kudora]

Originally posted by OwNeD162
Yer, he's really awesome to look at
He seems to be eating just fine too, so hopefully he continues to do well in my tank

Really ... I was hoping he would eventually come out and hang in the open all day... The LFS where I picked mine up from have a big display tank, and there are about 5 cardinals in there, and they all just hang out in an open spot at the front all day...

i have a pajama cardinal and just like melev mentioned they are very active at night, mine kinda hangs out on ledges or under the pagoda corals(since its gotten bigger) most of the day.

[OwNeD162]

Originally posted by melev
Bengaii Cardinal fish are nocturnal by nature. They will be far more active late at night.

Originally posted by kudora
i have a pajama cardinal and just like melev mentioned they are very active at night, mine kinda hangs out on ledges or under the pagoda corals(since its gotten bigger) most of the day.

Well there you go, you learn something new everyday
I'll have to get a nice blue/green chromis so it swims in the front all day

[Tswifty]

My Picasso Clowns refuse to help me out when taking pictures, so about 100 snaps later... here is the best I was able to get.

I'm a little ticked, because both of their "best" sides were facing away from the camera in every shot. Although, I was able to snag a quick pic of the Male's nice side when it ventured out from the Digi Forest.

Pair





Male







Female

[Tswifty]

Also, here is the updated status of my Nightmare Palys. They've looked like this for close to a week now, and my Vday Massacres have looked about the same for around 2 weeks. The Candy Apple Reds are fine though. hopefully moving them lower in the tank will help.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by OwNeD162
Really ... I was hoping he would eventually come out and hang in the open all day... The LFS where I picked mine up from have a big display tank, and there are about 5 cardinals in there, and they all just hang out in an open spot at the front all day...

It may have something to do with the tank mates as well.

Originally posted by melev
Bengaii Cardinal fish are nocturnal by nature. They will be far more active late at night.

Originally posted by kudora
i have a pajama cardinal and just like melev mentioned they are very active at night, mine kinda hangs out on ledges or under the pagoda corals(since its gotten bigger) most of the day.

Originally posted by OwNeD162
Well there you go, you learn something new everyday

Yep... I did not know they were nocturnal either.

Originally posted by H.Veras
hey TJ just learned something new today here.... how to clean my vortechs hahahah... BTW your tank is looking good.. sorry about your cardinal....

Haha... yeah I'm good for about 1 useful tip a month.

[2frosty4u]

Very nice pics of the clowns even if they were camera shy.
The problem I was experiencing earlier that I asked you about went away after a simple shut down and a very very long restart. All is well now.

[Padrino]

Sorry i haven't chimed in lately, i have been reading all the post but haven't had time to respond. TJ, tanks looks wicked! sorry to hear about the cardinal.. but something went to town on him. All of your corals look really good. Glad to see everything is coming along nicely

[Tswifty]

Water Parameters:

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by 2frosty4u
Very nice pics of the clowns even if they were camera shy.
The problem I was experiencing earlier that I asked you about went away after a simple shut down and a very very long restart. All is well now.

Thanks Harold. Glad to see you were able to get the problem fixed.

Originally posted by Padrino
Sorry i haven't chimed in lately, i have been reading all the post but haven't had time to respond. TJ, tanks looks wicked! sorry to hear about the cardinal.. but something went to town on him. All of your corals look really good. Glad to see everything is coming along nicely

Thanks Rob. No worries, nothing much new has been going on lately. Everything has just sort of been in cruise mode.

I may add some fish, and up my CUC a bit in the near future... but it's something I'm on the fence about, so it may or may not happen.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Tswifty
Water Parameters:

Hi TJ

What are you using to keep up your mag levels so high?

[Tswifty]

I usually use a 50/50 blend of Instant Ocean and Coralife salt. However, I ran out of Coralife, and only had Instant Ocean on hand. So I had to buffer the Ca & Mag levels, and overcompensated with the Mag. So the Magnesium level in freshly mixed salt water that I used for my last water change was around 1500 ppm.

To maintain my Magnesium above 1400 ppm, I dose 70 ml of DT's Pure Reef Elements Magnesium twice per week. No particular reason I chose that supplement, just happened to be what they had in stock at the LFS.

[spsfarmer09]

is it hard to keep anthias?

[will16]

Hey Tswifty, tank is looking great!

Very interesting what you posted about the vortech drive shafts. What was the original problem that you sent it in for? It was noisey? How much quieter is it now? I ask because I have noticed mine getting a little louder lately.

Thanks,
Will

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by spsfarmer09
is it hard to keep anthias?

Personally, I don't think so. Some people report having issues getting them to eat off the bat though, and usually problems arise from that. However, mine ate as soon as they were taken out of the bags, even with a considerable delay in shipping time. I only lost 2, to what I consider complications from that shipping delay. The other 3 have been fine, and I usually only offer my tank feedings once per day.

Originally posted by will16
Hey Tswifty, tank is looking great!

Very interesting what you posted about the vortech drive shafts. What was the original problem that you sent it in for? It was noisey? How much quieter is it now? I ask because I have noticed mine getting a little louder lately.

Thanks,
Will

Thanks Will.

The VorTech had a terrible grinding/clunking noise coming from the wet side assembly initially. After I sent it in, the problem vanished, and now the whir of the motor is the only audible noise.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Tswifty
Personally, I don't think so. Some people report having issues getting them to eat off the bat though, and usually problems arise from that. However, mine ate as soon as they were taken out of the bags, even with a considerable delay in shipping time. I only lost 2, to what I consider complications from that shipping delay. The other 3 have been fine, and I usually only offer my tank feedings once per day.

I agree--my two anthias eat what everyone else eats and once maybe twice a day.

[Padrino]

TJ,
i remember discussing the use of the coralife/IO mix with you way back.. how do you find it now that you been using it. I am still using the tropic marin pro and am thinking of going the same route once i finished this new bucket. Also did you figure out how much of each salt is needed to mix 5 0r 20 gal of water?

i find that i just keep adding salt till its at the right salinity but know exactly how much salt to add to a 20 gal brute would really take the guess work out of it and make things much quicker

[Tswifty]

I like it a lot, and probably am going to stick with it for a while. I never charted how much of each I use, next time I mix up a batch I'll have to check.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Tswifty
I like it a lot, and probably am going to stick with it for a while. I never charted how much of each I use, next time I mix up a batch I'll have to check.

TJ in case you didn't read on Rae's thread----Harold lost his father yesterday. Thoughts go out to Harold and his family at this time.

[Aquarist007]

I have a puzzling one---tonight my red bubble tip anemone was wrapped inside his foot---the whole food surrounded the anemone and all you could see was the tips inside this while shrowd----I've never seen or heard of this before???

[Taqpol]

Originally posted by capn_hylinur
I have a puzzling one---tonight my red bubble tip anemone was wrapped inside his foot---the whole food surrounded the anemone and all you could see was the tips inside this while shrowd----I've never seen or heard of this before???

I've seen my GBTA do this, normally only at night if something has ****ed it off. When they bagged it up originally it was not happy and did the same thing.