pictures at last!

[squishifishi]

oooo! i justlooked at my mushroom again, and nw t has another, brand new baby! a double head with TWO babies! such a GOOD mushroom!yes it IS!
sigh

[Trump]

Looks good, the galaxea should be fine in the lower flow area they dont need all that much.

[squishifishi]

It's actually my easiest coral, yeah.

[JillMTompkins]

I LOVE YOUR TANK!!! This is exactly what I want - I have a 2.5 gal in a cabinet somewhere, and every time I ask someone about starting a pico I get "It's too hard." Arrrgh I'm a chemistry geek and the hard is what makes it fun!! But I'm completely lost when it comes to lighting. What do you have on yours? Specifics please - Brand, size, bulb type and wavelength, and how do you have it mounted. Also, does everything seem to be doing okay with the lighting you chose?? Thank you for proving it can be done by the right person!!

[squishifishi]

Wow... I'm depressed now. I wrote this big long beautiful response, and it randomly disappeared. Ok. Here we go again.
.
I got the whole it's too hard thing. Especially since this is my first and only saltwater tank. As a matter of fact, they said it can't be done. Period. So I laughed in their face, did some research, and started a tank.
Really though, keeping this tank has been a breeze. Besides typical beginner issues like algae and foggy water once, I've never had any problems in the tank. I used live aragonite sand and live rock and I never really even had a cycle to deal with in the tank. The only maintenance I do is scrape the glass and do a 1pint water change weekly. I think buying an HOB filter was the best thing that ever happened to this tank, and planting it with cheats really makes it look nice, I guess the green leaves bring out the other colors and gives it a really healthy clean look that it did not have before adding it. And also it helps water quality. So, for somebody who's smart, and experienced, this should be nothing.
I'm really cheap so I don't like to buy expensive new stuff to start a fish tank. Thus, my lighting is a 10watt screw in LED bulb in a desk lamp. It is called a Kuler bulb(look it up) and I got it as a gift, but its like 18 bucks on amazon I think. It is not made for aquariums, obviously, but it works beautifully. It is made of red green and blue LEDs. It is fantastic because I can turn it on and off via remote control, and it can be any color I want. I just use the blue and white though, and sometimes red for hunting stuff at midnight. The light makes everything look really colorful, even better than the coral does under the pro lights at my specialty reef store! I was really suprised at how great everything looks under it. It is th perfect amount of light too. Everything is growing really well, including Sps, and nothing has ever bleached either. So you could go buy one of these bulbs online if you want because it is absolutely perfect, but a lot of reef people don't like stuff that is not specifically designed for a reef i guess. You could probably DIY something similar if you want. I do love my Kuler bulb though! I have it sitting directly on top of a cover that I cut to fit the tank from an old hard clear plastic binder. Ya it's tacky, but I could not find a lid to fit my tank anywhere!
So ya, that's about it! Can't wait for you to get started! Good luck!

[squishifishi]

Sorry the pic is upside down... This is my setup.

[jmh11788]

Rehosted and flipped it around for you. Nice looking tank. =)

[squishifishi]

Thanks! How did you do that?

[jmh11788]

Downloaded your image, opened it in Windows Photo Viewer, and used the rotate arrows to flip it. Hosted it on www.imgur.com

ezpz

[squishifishi]

so, Gobi went carpet surfing! i was moving around some corals and apparently he was sitting on my hand. when i took my hand out of the water, he decided to come with me and leaped off, straight into the crack between my two very heavy bookshelves. i wouldnt have even known he was out, i didnt see or feel anything, except i heard him thunk ino an empy water bottle on the way down. i spent a second looking in the tankto confirm he had indeed taken the leap, and then started trying to figure out where the heck he went. i finally caught a glimpse of him with a flashlight. i frantically started taking whole shelves out of the bookcase and throwing books around so i could move it. i also had to move my little shrimp vase(good thig it wasnt a big tank or i wouldve been in serious trouble. i was finally able to move the shelf enough to reach into the crack and gently pick up the goby. i didnt have time to prepare a bucket of water to rinse him in so i just threw him back in the tank, dustbunnies and all. he was completely covered in behind the shelf nastiness, poor guy. i siphoned all the junk back out of the tank. the poor little fish was probably out of the water for a whole minute, most likely longer. he hid behing the rocks for a long time after i got him back in there. he was breathing hard and looking wierd, but now he seems ok, he ate and everything and is swimming around again. Ihope he does ok, and learned his lesson too! i think ill have to stuff that crack with tissues now though, just in case.

[Stepho725]

What a bad little goby! What kind is he?

[squishifishi]

Haha, ya, hes a Neon cleaner. They're not generally jumpers though, and my lid eould keep him in anyway under normal circumstances.

[Stepho725]

Lol what size is the filter on there? It provides all the current u need & all?

You said in ur earlier post that you planted "cheats" ...what does that mean?

[squishifishi]

Cheato...that's why I love autocorrect, lol. My filter is an Aqueon 5-15 hob I think. Good flow.

[squishifishi]

ono! gobi came out of the rockwork for the first time today, guess hunger got the best of him, but his tail is pretty much gone. its all shredded up! no wonder hes been hiding, probably trying to get somewhere that he doesnt have to fight te flow. it mustve gotten tangled somwhow when he went carpet surfing
will it grow back? how long will it take?

[Stepho725]

Yikes i have no clue but you should put him into a QT with antibiotics and low flow i think.

[squishifishi]

I don't have a qt..
I think it will grow back because he still has tatters of his tail. It is only permenant if the base of the tail gets torn off, which it is not. I have to say, I'm not suprised though. I think he's actually doing really well, he's lucky. Thrashing around in a dirty shag carpet should have really beaten up such a small fish. Heis coming out more now.

[Stepho725]

Well i just dont think their fins regenerate..? But it will likely heal....best of luck!

[squishifishi]

He is still doing great, lucky there aren't other fish to compete with. I have yet to see any fin growth

[terrypercula]

Fin should grow back but it's a very slow process. I saved a cardinal from my friends tank a long time ago who was getting beat up and his fins slowly grew back. Took months.

[squishifishi]

The tai
L is starting to grow back! Not the way I expected, just a funny little triangle at the top, but still growth! Today I picked up a birdsnest for my high flow corner and a bright green fuzzy mushroom.

[terrypercula]

Birds nests are nice! Easier sps to care for and still very nice looking!

[Stepho725]

Pics!

[squishifishi]

Ugh. I have too much red. I want more green nd blue but lfs never have any. I thnk it would look better if I swapped the places of the green tripe broom and the birdsnest, bu I can't get the mushroom off the rock! EVery thing is lookin good

[squishifishi]

Fts. I added some more shells for my hermits too. They make the tank look so crowded!