How to increase my posts (and build a tank)..

[rampantmarine]

I picked up the following coral from a local reef keeper, after doing much reading on it's requirements I am looking forward to growing it. It was doing ok in his tank, but I don't believe it was thriving.

Here is a picture as it was eating a Mysis,


and after eating mysis till it looked full....about 4 shrimp each polyp...



This is one cool coral.. I saw one in the LFS and they were about an inch in length, so it has a bit to go...

[rampantmarine]

An update on the little skimmer that produced about 2 cups of skimmate in a week...



I am going to say - it works.

[rampantmarine]

On the way home from picking up the Sun coral, I stopped in to the LFS and picked up three of these little guys, probably the last time I will see them...



If you see what is to the left of the peppermint shrimp, you will see why I need a few of them. I will have to help them out with the syringe on the biggest ones.

[rampantmarine]

Better picture after it settled in and has had two feedings.



I also ordered the 4 books in Scott Micahel's Reef Fishes series, Volumes 1 to 4. After that I hope to set up the QT with a bit of Live rock and obtain a butterflyfish about the 15th of November.

[rampantmarine]

So I have been thinking about ordering a butterflyfish. I have been wavering back and forth between ordering via online who offer a guarantee or the LFS I have had success with fish from. While today I decided today to call the LFS and ask him to order me in the fish I wanted. My LFS owner informed me he is expecting the fish I desire later this week, destiny perhaps? So I have arranged to go and pick them up later this week. I did stop in and pickup the following ornamental fella, today as the peppermints's hide.



A better pic of one of the little peppermint shrimp.

[rampantmarine]

Current Fission Skimmer Update:

If you have one of these you have to replace the bubble pads, if you don't then when it clogs up it can create a siphon from the bottom of the skimmer that can overflow the collection cup you setup outside your tank. This could make a mess, and force you to spend an evening cleaning up.

Not that I would have personal experience.

[rampantmarine]

I picked up a new fish the other day, here it is...



He is eating Mysis very well, it took me a day to get it eating Mysis, and then he just ate a bit. I have had it a week now, I picked it up last Friday when the LFS opened after it arrived the night before. It is still in QT and I have been adding Amquel to help with the ammonia generated. It still passes up flake and pellets, and did not take to the Bloodworms I tried. It is now eating Mysis very well from the water column and chases it down, it is also not frightened and associates me with food. Good signs.


I had some live rock in the QT with aptasia on it. It was all gone within a couple of days even one very large aptasia. Picked clean. So we know he likes aptasia, hope he leaves the corals alone.


Side note: My tang looks like he got himself jammed in his favorite hidey-hole in the live rock. Anyone ever had this happen? if I don't see him out tomorrow then I may break the rock, or at least a piece so it can be easier to get out. Then I will plug the hole. Like a kid - it is outgrowing its bed.

[betamed]

Nice thread. the pick leather looks like its been dyed.

[rampantmarine]

I wondered if it had been dyed as the water from the skimmer was Pinkish. It is in my display now and it still Pink and I have it nice and high so it shows against the black background. I have two update photos - an update of my Sun Coral - it is getting better and heathy in the tank. This was it after its first feeding - the tentacles were a bit longer before the first course.



Even with my little skimmer I had the same problem with maintaining stable water conditions in my Quarantine tank. Ammonia was neutralized with Amquel - worked wonderfully. evaporation drove up and down S.G. do to a small water volume, and ph fell, which I used Reef Buffer to balance. In the end I felt that to continue to adjust it was better to let the Copperbanded butterfly into the display. It was an active mysis feeder after one week eating swimming after the food very quickly, and with no fear. In fact it waited for me when I came near. I dripped it for to hours and transferred it in an ice cream pail instead of netting - much easier and a lot less stressful for the fish. He was out within a few minutes cruising around pecking at the rocks. Gave a few Mysis and he chased one and found another - but was too interested in the aptasia and feather dusters.

[PaulieWalnuts]

that is my next fish i would like to get looking good!!

[rampantmarine]

It is an awesome fish, beauty, quick, graceful and has great eyesight. Check out the primer in the reef fishes forum if you haven't been there. The guys there have lots of great info and talk about feeding and shyness. It really helped me not panic when I got it. I did lots if reading from a lot of sources and the books in my own collection before ordering him.

[ebording]

i just went and read the whole thread, you seem to be doing a great job. i think you made the right choice with the tang, how is he doing?

[deaclauderdale]

This is an awesome thread and I appreciate your dedication to the tang and to the initila phases of the hobby.

[MMOORE0324]

Just read the whole thread and I'm really glad to see that your hippo is doing well. Great job! I noticed that you referenced Marc (Melev)... you will learn a ton from this guy. I think he is one of the best reefers in the hobby. How is your sun coral doing? A few years ago I had a large colony that was doing very well in my tank but I got a little lazy with it and it started to dwindle down. I felt bad and ended up selling it back to my LFS. I was so mad at myself because before I bought it, I did about three weeks of research to really understand these corals.... anyways I'm thinking of setting up a small Tubestrea tank in my sump like Marc did. I'll let you know if I do. Really neat corals. Check out Feb. 200 TOTM. He has a very large colony of Sun Coral growing on a pillar. Just awesome.

[almees]

Very interesting thread. It's great to see how your tang improved. I'm interested in seeing how the butterfly does. I have received a piece of sun coral from a fellow reefer and am isolating in my refrigium to try and get it healthy.

[rampantmarine]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments, the Tang is doing well, getting fatter and bigger. It gave me a scare a few days back as I thought he was stuck in the rock as when I came by the tank I could only see him wedged in his sleeping spot. While he was out one time I stuck a rock in the entrance and now he has to find a bigger spot to sleep. Not a problem as he goes to bed before the lights go off and wakes up before they come on. Now just have to get my kids to do the same! He went to sleep before the CBB was introduced so tonight will be the first time I get to see them both out and about.

MMore & Almes, I feed Mysis with a pipette to the sun corals, I have been feeding it a mysis about 3-5 times a week. It seems to help the growth. I will try to get a picture when the tentacles are fully extended.

An update on the skimmer - when I broke down the QT I dumped the collection cup - wow did it smell like skimmate, so it works for small gallons - just watch the drain hose and maybe a check valve would be a good idea. So you don't end up with a small flood.

[almees]

I just pulled out my sun coral on Monday and placed it in the refrigium to feed it and get it healthy again. I was lazy and was not feeding it alot. when I did it was getting robbed by my fish and shrimp. So Im going to attempt to feed it every other day.

[rampantmarine]

I have an update on my tank, and it's inhabitants.

First, my Tang has been a bit shy since the addition of the copperbanded butterflyfish, but he seems to have warmed up to him. I plugged up his old hiding space as he was getting to big to get out easily. He found another spot just under the sun coral in that rock. He didn't want to pose for a picture the day I took this one.



The Sun Coral has been growing and doing very well. Here are two shots, I enjoy feeding it very much - it loves the mysis and the biggest challenge is keeping the fish and hermits from picking the food away, unfortunately the hermit always looses.





The Copperbanded butterfly has made a few changes to my tank. He is by far the favorite fish of everyone who sees it, and the most visible. He is always cruising the front of the tank looking for a meal, seems to have made a friend.

[rampantmarine]

A full tank shot - not much of a change, but I did put trim around the tank and painted the wall.



My Leathers are both doing well same for the frogspawn and the hairy mushrooms have multiplied (8) at last count. The Pink leather lost some colour.

The Original leather....



The Pink one...


Frogspawn


Some Zoes and Polyps... All doing very well including some (hitchhiking ones that came out of a rock and are all brown - I don't have any all brown ones in my tank) four of them at last count but can't get a good photo.

[rampantmarine]

I have been loosing snails recently - but have been seeing many more baby snails, mostly in the sump. I'm thinking hermits. The Peppermints have not been seen since I found one lying on my sumps screen. It would have had to go thru the skimmer to get their. The cleaner shrimp is always out on the piping - but gets no visitors.


So that's what's new since Nov. or rather, what is not new. I did learn one thing the hard way...never "really" clean your tank on Christmas eve.

I did one of those reef storm type cleanings (where you use a powerhead to blast the debris on the rocks (i know it sounds like a good way to have the tank nice and clean for Christmas right?)

The skimmer freaked out and blew loads of foam out of the tank, onto the floor and made a general mess. After I calmed it down I searched RC for what to do about skimmers running too wet. So I found an air valve and dialed back the air intake to the skimmer and calmed it down. I have not had to dial back the airflow since day one on the skimmer. So I still have it running at a lower airflow and collect a dry skimmate. I spoke to the fella that makes the skimmer about this - we had a good laugh.

He confirmed that I did stir up too much organics and will have to wait it out. Confirmation of the this is the significant amount of reddish slime or cyno that is having an outbreak in my tank now. I seem to be on the downswing of this mess now and hope to be back to normal soon and then can start looking for a new addition later in January.

The LFS has a bunch of Bartlets Anthias in stock and they look real nice. Hmmmm. Now where are those "Reef Fishes" books...

So finally, Happy New Year everyone, the markets have bounced back a bit, so lets hold our breath and cross our fingers. Thanks for all your kind comments about the journey the little tang and I have been on and lets hope it continues.

[Garage1217]

Very impressed at how much better the tang has gotten / the whole recovery. I would have figured he was past the point of death after some of those first pics. Good work!

Also that skimmer... I bought one for my first 5g nano *LOL* Time to upgrade bud On my 90, my msx200 pulls about a gallon and a half of skim every week and it is a low bioload tank!

[rampantmarine]

Garage, Thanks for the kind comments.

Are you referring to the nano skimmer , as it is only used on the QT when set up.

If you are referring to the octopus powered sump and skimmer from SWC. He makes the MSX as well, I am sure you know. Just checking if you still think I need to upgrade. I pull out about a quarter to a half gallon every three days with it.

[Garage1217]

Ah ok *LOL* Just skimming over the post I thought you were trying to use that thing on the 90 hahaha. Good stuff And yes I know MSX, Octo & Vertex skimmers are all made in the same factory in China. Very good skimmers.

I see you are using an all in one sump designed setup from MSX, I had not seen those before & know nothing at all about them. Looks like it is doing the trick!

[Ehaze]

wow, man I have not seen this thread in a long time, I am glad the tang is still alive.

[almees]

Glad to see everything is going good.Very nice Butterfly.