Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 17

Stile2 · 05/31/2006, 02:31 PM

Wow, that's beautiful. I can't help on the name, but I'm feeling better about not being the only who doesn't know the names.

The colors look similar to my new Oregon Tort.

Keith

Lunchbucket · 05/31/2006, 09:13 PM

flipping cool melev!!!! can't wait to see more pics

Lunchbucket

melev · 05/31/2006, 10:39 PM

Today I thought I'd look closely at a couple of corals. To my surprise, the orange Montipora capricornis I got at last year's Frag Swap seems to be making a recovery, with new growth on the leading edges. (And yes, that is a Cyano pyramid in the background, which I siphoned out today. )

In the past 9 months, I've had little success with any Montipora in my reef for some reason. Perhaps running carbon more often has helped, or maybe it is the Prodibio. All I know is that coral is considered hardy and a great beginner SPS coral, but for some reason it has yet to survive in my tank. So seeing this is promising, as I miss the large piece I had that was the size of a dinner plate last summer.

I revised how the refugium bulbs are arranged over my refugium. Here's a picture. Gone are the metal spring clamps that held them in place, which over time tend to corrode. I have each bulb suspended by its wire from a small hook screwed into the bottom side of the plywood platform.

jnarowe · 06/01/2006, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Gone are the metal spring clamps that held them in place, which over time tend to corrode.

Those clamps bite anyway. It's hard to get the lamp into a good position when you are using the clamp on a vertical tank wall. I just ordered an IceCap 660 and T-12 retro kit so I can beef up my fuge lighting. I am going to over-drive some 48" 6500K lamps and see if I can get better growth.

I do notice that your lamps are closer to the water surface but I have a much larger area to light. Anyway I am not real happy with the CF lamps.

CW from the OC · 06/01/2006, 08:09 AM

Hey Mark,

Any more news on the Prodibio experiment?

CW

jnarowe · 06/01/2006, 08:25 AM

Isn't buying new corals easier than dosing Prodibio?

WAGERJA · 06/01/2006, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Here's the new coral from Saturday. Any idea what it is? The core is green, while the leading edge is bluish/lavendar.

Looks like a Hydophora Sp. with an unusual grow form from what is normally seen in the hobby... Nice color morph as well.

Nice Find Marc.

If you can get a closer macro I would be able to confirm this to the best of my abilities.

-J

melev · 06/01/2006, 10:00 AM

Jonathan - I recommend keeping these bulbs 4" off the water, as they aren't the most intense bulb. For a refugium that is 12" deep or less, this works out fine. Odds are you have a larger refugium vat to light, and VHO or T5 lighting may be the better option. Alternately, you could get one of the LOA (Lights of America) fixtures that outputs 250w of light (but uses 75w). Those fixtures are meant as floodlights for the area outside the house, but many like them because the spectrum is 6500K.

CW - I dosed a week ago, and this was the first time I didn't have something RTN within 24 hours - let alone at all this week. The tank looks very healthy to me, but I've not had anything really stand out and change: I still have cyano bacteria in a couple of trouble spots, and the corals seem to continue to grow and look the right color. The only thing that feels different is that the Montipora in my tank are staying alive. I've not see nitrate or phosphate plummet like others have, nor has my macro algae died off.

Wagarja - I believe that is correct. Looking in Borneman's book "Corals", it looks like Hydnophora microconos (page 282).

jnarowe · 06/01/2006, 10:37 AM

Marc,

I actually am using a better version of that LOA lamp: TCP 1R402365K (6500K) but it only puts out 120W incandescent equivalent. I have over 120 lamps in my house and my experience with the LOA lamps has been dismal. When I first started using them I got a 50% failure rate so I am a bit skeptical of their quality controls. I have had a TCP flood in my store operating 12hr/day every day for 6 years straight and no problem...but they are much more expensive.

My fuge water depth is actually less than 12" but the whole tub is 3' x 4' + so there is a lot of area to cover.

I thought about T-5 but decided to try the T-12 because the T-5 may actually be too much light, and the T-12 is much cheaper to replace. If I don't like that, it's not much money "wasted" and I can just switch to T-5s.

melev · 06/01/2006, 10:45 AM

I agree. You'd need 6 bulbs over the fuge/tub, or N.O. lighting. You can get 6500K bulbs at Home Depot for ~$5 each and use a regular fixture. I'd probably run two fixtures and four bulbs over that size tub.

jnarowe · 06/01/2006, 10:49 AM

Spank you!

Lordhelmet · 06/01/2006, 11:15 AM

marc, looks good. it's gonna look better when the woodwork is all done!

CW from the OC · 06/01/2006, 02:08 PM

Thanks for the Probibio update Mark!

melev · 06/05/2006, 12:03 AM

I thought I'd do a little late-night skulking to see what I'd find in the reef tank tonight. Here are some of the obvious and not so obvious critters captured on film.

A harlequin shrimp hanging out under a black suncoral polyp.

One of two Serpent Starfish in my reef that I rarely see.

I was surprised to see so many chitons in my tank. They are everywhere, way more than I care to count. The harder I looked, the more I saw. They only come out at night. They are the white/beige oblong things, and are very small.

A couple of Collonista snails, one even hitching a ride on an Astrea snail shell.

A few baby brittle starfish.

And finally, the surprise of the night. This black brittle starfish appeared in my tank over two years ago as a cute little hitchhiker. It has grown to be quite massive. The body is easily the size of a quarter or wider, and I've never seen the full reach of its arms.

Podcast
Evan came over today, and we recorded Epsiode 7 of Reefcast. Episode 6 is finally about to make its appearance after a 10 week wait. It should be online in the next 48 hours. Episode 7 should be up about a week later, I'd surmise.

Lordhelmet · 06/05/2006, 12:09 AM

marc do you ever go to bed?

Hop · 06/05/2006, 12:12 AM

Nice pics... Glad to see I'm not the only one up late with a flashlight

And a pod cast update

It will probably come out tomorrow night and I'll stay up too late again

melev · 06/05/2006, 12:52 AM

I know, wouldn't that be cool?!

Sleep? What's that? Our club has a Frag Swap this Saturday, and I was just typing up the guidelines for our webmaster to put on the site tomorrow. Should be a blast!

melev · 06/05/2006, 01:57 AM

Someone asked me recently if fish have memory or do they forget stuff. I wasn't sure, but had a feeling they tend to remember things. After all, they know exactly what time I feed the tank daily, as do the fish at the Dallas World Aquarium and places like Sea World.

Tonight I thought I really should feed my suncorals, something I've neglected day after day after day. I kept saying "I'll do it tomorrow" and then the next day I'd say the same. It really doesn't take that long, and I'm going to have to force myself to get back to it.

Anyway.... as soon as the pumps were turned off, Spock swooped over the the suncoral section of the reef, ready and hungry. Since I've not target fed my suncorals in a month or more, that seems to be a pretty good indication to me that fish indeed have memory.

While the pumps were off and Spock was circling, I decided to frag my beautiful branching hammer coral that is entirely too large now that it can touch the Tyree frag and another millepora on its left side. Snip, crunch, snap - two frags were created. I hate cutting that coral, but I can't pluck it from that spot either. The frags were put in the propagation section of the sump and hopefully they'll recover. The core is very brittle and just doesn't cut cleanly, but rather it crumbles internally.

While the pumps were off, I thought I'd see if anything else of interest was occuring. I found a very small Fighting Conch in my tank. When I say small, I'm referring to a 1" specimen or less. The ones I usually get are about 3" in size or larger. This little guy is new to me, and I don't know if the others bred the little guy or not, but he's a cutie.

iCam · 06/05/2006, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I kept saying "I'll do it tomorrow" and then the next day I'd say the same. It really doesn't take that long, and I'm going to have to force myself to get back to it.

This attitude is why I am still up!

Looks good, Marc. Can't wait for the podcasts!

Lunchbucket · 06/05/2006, 04:22 AM

great pics as always marc...and a new pod cast

Lunchbucket

Micki · 06/05/2006, 04:53 AM

Podcast? What is that? I think I've heard of it but not sure...

melev · 06/05/2006, 05:26 AM

Episode 6 is greatness, and Episode 7 will make you laugh. All we have to do is pray.

bheron · 06/05/2006, 01:26 PM

Cool pics marc! The baby brittle stars - are you saying yours reproduce in your tank?

melev · 06/05/2006, 01:42 PM

Absolutely, Bryan. I must have thousands upon thousands in there. When I fed last night and the pumps were off, I saw little arms poking out of every crevice imaginable.

The big black one is different, obviously. When I got the little guy, it looked like this, size-wise:

And as you can see in the picture posted yesterday, it has grown considerably.

bheron · 06/05/2006, 07:44 PM

Wow. Did not know that. Do they need a mate to reproduce or do they do it on their own? Cool.

05/31/2006, 02:31 PM	#401
Stile2 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Yucaipa, California (some little town you've never heard of) Posts: 1,624	Wow, that's beautiful. I can't help on the name, but I'm feeling better about not being the only who doesn't know the names. The colors look similar to my new Oregon Tort. Keith __________________ If you have a college degree, you can be sure of one thing. You have a college degree! Superman owns Chuck Norris Pajamas!! Current Tank Info: 77 Gallon Custom peninsula 3 sides viewable, DIY Steel Stand, OM Squirt, 2 x 250 w MH, 2 x 95 w VHO, DIY Skimmer

05/31/2006, 09:13 PM	#402
Lunchbucket Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brookings, SD Posts: 12,924	flipping cool melev!!!! can't wait to see more pics Lunchbucket __________________ Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- Current Tank Info: 58gal Oceanic RR, 2x400w MH (20k XM and 10k XM), Deltec PF601 Ca Rx, Deltec AP701 skimmer, mag950 return, iwaki 55rlt w/ an Oceansmotions 4-way unit, Tunze 7300 and 6000 each w/ controller, fluidized po4 rx

06/01/2006, 08:09 AM	#405
CW from the OC Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 853	Hey Mark, Any more news on the Prodibio experiment? CW __________________ Cheers! C Dub Current Tank Info: 210 LeeMar starfire reef (7x2x2), 100 gal SoCalCreations sump, Aquacontroller 3, Geo 618 fed by Cole Parmer peri pump, ATB Large Cone , Aquatinics Constellation T5, 4 Vortecs with wireless controllers, Eheim 1262 return on a SeaSwirl

06/01/2006, 08:25 AM	#406
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	Isn't buying new corals easier than dosing Prodibio? __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

06/01/2006, 10:37 AM	#409
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	Marc, I actually am using a better version of that LOA lamp: TCP 1R402365K (6500K) but it only puts out 120W incandescent equivalent. I have over 120 lamps in my house and my experience with the LOA lamps has been dismal. When I first started using them I got a 50% failure rate so I am a bit skeptical of their quality controls. I have had a TCP flood in my store operating 12hr/day every day for 6 years straight and no problem...but they are much more expensive. My fuge water depth is actually less than 12" but the whole tub is 3' x 4' + so there is a lot of area to cover. I thought about T-5 but decided to try the T-12 because the T-5 may actually be too much light, and the T-12 is much cheaper to replace. If I don't like that, it's not much money "wasted" and I can just switch to T-5s. __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

05/31/2006, 10:39 PM	#403
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Today I thought I'd look closely at a couple of corals. To my surprise, the orange Montipora capricornis I got at last year's Frag Swap seems to be making a recovery, with new growth on the leading edges. (And yes, that is a Cyano pyramid in the background, which I siphoned out today. ) In the past 9 months, I've had little success with any Montipora in my reef for some reason. Perhaps running carbon more often has helped, or maybe it is the Prodibio. All I know is that coral is considered hardy and a great beginner SPS coral, but for some reason it has yet to survive in my tank. So seeing this is promising, as I miss the large piece I had that was the size of a dinner plate last summer. I revised how the refugium bulbs are arranged over my refugium. Here's a picture. Gone are the metal spring clamps that held them in place, which over time tend to corrode. I have each bulb suspended by its wire from a small hook screwed into the bottom side of the plywood platform.

06/01/2006, 10:00 AM	#408
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Jonathan - I recommend keeping these bulbs 4" off the water, as they aren't the most intense bulb. For a refugium that is 12" deep or less, this works out fine. Odds are you have a larger refugium vat to light, and VHO or T5 lighting may be the better option. Alternately, you could get one of the LOA (Lights of America) fixtures that outputs 250w of light (but uses 75w). Those fixtures are meant as floodlights for the area outside the house, but many like them because the spectrum is 6500K. CW - I dosed a week ago, and this was the first time I didn't have something RTN within 24 hours - let alone at all this week. The tank looks very healthy to me, but I've not had anything really stand out and change: I still have cyano bacteria in a couple of trouble spots, and the corals seem to continue to grow and look the right color. The only thing that feels different is that the Montipora in my tank are staying alive. I've not see nitrate or phosphate plummet like others have, nor has my macro algae died off. Wagarja - I believe that is correct. Looking in Borneman's book "Corals", it looks like Hydnophora microconos (page 282).

06/01/2006, 10:45 AM	#410
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I agree. You'd need 6 bulbs over the fuge/tub, or N.O. lighting. You can get 6500K bulbs at Home Depot for ~$5 each and use a regular fixture. I'd probably run two fixtures and four bulbs over that size tub.

06/01/2006, 10:49 AM	#411
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	Spank you! __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

06/01/2006, 11:15 AM	#412
Lordhelmet Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,008	marc, looks good. it's gonna look better when the woodwork is all done! __________________ I need a new signiture Current Tank Info: 90 gallon, 14 gallon

06/01/2006, 02:08 PM	#413
CW from the OC Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 853	Thanks for the Probibio update Mark! __________________ Cheers! C Dub Current Tank Info: 210 LeeMar starfire reef (7x2x2), 100 gal SoCalCreations sump, Aquacontroller 3, Geo 618 fed by Cole Parmer peri pump, ATB Large Cone , Aquatinics Constellation T5, 4 Vortecs with wireless controllers, Eheim 1262 return on a SeaSwirl

06/05/2006, 12:03 AM	#414
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I thought I'd do a little late-night skulking to see what I'd find in the reef tank tonight. Here are some of the obvious and not so obvious critters captured on film. A harlequin shrimp hanging out under a black suncoral polyp. One of two Serpent Starfish in my reef that I rarely see. I was surprised to see so many chitons in my tank. They are everywhere, way more than I care to count. The harder I looked, the more I saw. They only come out at night. They are the white/beige oblong things, and are very small. A couple of Collonista snails, one even hitching a ride on an Astrea snail shell. A few baby brittle starfish. And finally, the surprise of the night. This black brittle starfish appeared in my tank over two years ago as a cute little hitchhiker. It has grown to be quite massive. The body is easily the size of a quarter or wider, and I've never seen the full reach of its arms. Podcast Evan came over today, and we recorded Epsiode 7 of Reefcast. Episode 6 is finally about to make its appearance after a 10 week wait. It should be online in the next 48 hours. Episode 7 should be up about a week later, I'd surmise.

06/05/2006, 12:09 AM	#415
Lordhelmet Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,008	marc do you ever go to bed? __________________ I need a new signiture Current Tank Info: 90 gallon, 14 gallon

06/05/2006, 12:12 AM	#416
Hop Carpe Noctem!!! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Western Colorado Posts: 8,548	Nice pics... Glad to see I'm not the only one up late with a flashlight And a pod cast update It will probably come out tomorrow night and I'll stay up too late again __________________ Hop Current Tank Info: 300-gallon in-wall system (mixed reef)

06/05/2006, 12:52 AM	#417
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I know, wouldn't that be cool?! Sleep? What's that? Our club has a Frag Swap this Saturday, and I was just typing up the guidelines for our webmaster to put on the site tomorrow. Should be a blast!

06/05/2006, 01:57 AM	#418
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Someone asked me recently if fish have memory or do they forget stuff. I wasn't sure, but had a feeling they tend to remember things. After all, they know exactly what time I feed the tank daily, as do the fish at the Dallas World Aquarium and places like Sea World. Tonight I thought I really should feed my suncorals, something I've neglected day after day after day. I kept saying "I'll do it tomorrow" and then the next day I'd say the same. It really doesn't take that long, and I'm going to have to force myself to get back to it. Anyway.... as soon as the pumps were turned off, Spock swooped over the the suncoral section of the reef, ready and hungry. Since I've not target fed my suncorals in a month or more, that seems to be a pretty good indication to me that fish indeed have memory. While the pumps were off and Spock was circling, I decided to frag my beautiful branching hammer coral that is entirely too large now that it can touch the Tyree frag and another millepora on its left side. Snip, crunch, snap - two frags were created. I hate cutting that coral, but I can't pluck it from that spot either. The frags were put in the propagation section of the sump and hopefully they'll recover. The core is very brittle and just doesn't cut cleanly, but rather it crumbles internally. While the pumps were off, I thought I'd see if anything else of interest was occuring. I found a very small Fighting Conch in my tank. When I say small, I'm referring to a 1" specimen or less. The ones I usually get are about 3" in size or larger. This little guy is new to me, and I don't know if the others bred the little guy or not, but he's a cutie.

06/05/2006, 04:22 AM	#420
Lunchbucket Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Brookings, SD Posts: 12,924	great pics as always marc...and a new pod cast Lunchbucket __________________ Trying to lose weight by walking is like trying to bake a cake w/ a cigarette lighter - Lunchbucket - "Nancy-Boy Extraordinaire" - maxxII- Current Tank Info: 58gal Oceanic RR, 2x400w MH (20k XM and 10k XM), Deltec PF601 Ca Rx, Deltec AP701 skimmer, mag950 return, iwaki 55rlt w/ an Oceansmotions 4-way unit, Tunze 7300 and 6000 each w/ controller, fluidized po4 rx

06/05/2006, 04:53 AM	#421
Micki Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 7,163	Podcast? What is that? I think I've heard of it but not sure... __________________ Micki... Western Ohio Reef Club Click the red house for my 125 progress! Current Tank Info: 125 gal. reef, 90 gal. sump, 10 gal. fuge, 40 gallon. 150 gallon fish only.

06/05/2006, 05:26 AM	#422
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Episode 6 is greatness, and Episode 7 will make you laugh. All we have to do is pray.

06/05/2006, 01:26 PM	#423
bheron Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Valley Forge, PA Posts: 2,655	Cool pics marc! The baby brittle stars - are you saying yours reproduce in your tank? __________________ Bryan Current Tank Info: 220 since Nov 2005

06/05/2006, 01:42 PM	#424
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Absolutely, Bryan. I must have thousands upon thousands in there. When I fed last night and the pumps were off, I saw little arms poking out of every crevice imaginable. The big black one is different, obviously. When I got the little guy, it looked like this, size-wise: And as you can see in the picture posted yesterday, it has grown considerably.

06/05/2006, 07:44 PM	#425
bheron Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Valley Forge, PA Posts: 2,655	Wow. Did not know that. Do they need a mate to reproduce or do they do it on their own? Cool. __________________ Bryan Current Tank Info: 220 since Nov 2005