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The eviction of the Xenia is complete! I traded it into my favorite LFS, RC, in exchange for credit. I picked some new rock, beautiful stuff!
I'm really hoping removing the xenia will help improve my water quality, and in turn, SPS growth. Plus I now have tons of extra space for future additions. Before: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0098-1.jpg After: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0035-1.jpg This is all the clove polyps I pulled off an SPS colony and a clam. They are like the plague. This is the second time I've pull mini colonies off both. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0014-4.jpg I want to see some growth on this guy! http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0036-2.jpg Kevin's sandsifter that won't touch the poop pile. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0034.jpg We also got to go see Fishytime's tank in person, very sweet! I'd definitely recommend a visit if you can! |
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Only took....what six months to get yous two over to have a look....Thanks for the comp guys.:redface: |
Operation Kill those &%#$ Mojano Anemones has begun!
I injected all the ones I could get to with Lemon juice, my first method of attack. So far it seems like Lemon Juice is a fail. Next up Kalk. paste, although I'll save that for next week. Water change and skimmer cleaning has been completed for the week. We have also once again been assured about our skimmer collection container, it definitely works, no smell until you crack it open. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0111.jpg |
catherine do you have the collection vented out side then you would not get the humid air from the skimmer
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The collection container vents out the top.
This morning my bristletooth tang started looking different. Its suddenly developed a yellow backend, almost like an Orange Shoulder tang. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0189-2.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0153-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0230-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0133.jpg The camera hog http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0206-1.jpg |
no the out vent piece on the top of the waste container is that vented outside to the outside...
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A little bit of an evolution of this tank. It was set up in May 2008, and has experienced a few crashes when we moved from our condo to our house.
May 13, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0311.jpg June 26, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0939-2.jpg July 21, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0269-1.jpg August 8, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0532-1.jpg September 21, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0892.jpg November 11, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0220.jpg December 30, 2008 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0587-1.jpg Jan 4, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0633-1.jpg January 11, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0787-1.jpg January 17, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0857.jpg April 30, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0020-2.jpg May 19, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0098-1.jpg June 13, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0035-1.jpg June 28, 2009 http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0082-1.jpg |
Whoa those caps on the wall and returns are going to look awesome! Should be awesome just in time to rip'em out for the new monster =) How is the green attached?
The second pic looks really SUNNYX nice... Anyone who reads the RC will know what I'm talking about. |
The cap is glued to an old koralia base. Works great now that its solid. Although it was a huge PITA to get the green cap to glue to the base at first.
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Updated FTS from today
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0802.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0807-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0808-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0812.jpg How to kill aiptasia 1) Locate your target http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0738.jpg 2) Inject with a poison of your choosing, in this case, lemon juice http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0753.jpg 3) Watch it swell, shrivel, turn purple, and die http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0765.jpg 4) Celebrate your victory |
My tank isn't happy this past week, so I'm frustrated.
Friday I came home to find one of my ultra croceas cleaned out of its shell. It was find Friday morning at 6am, and then at 6pm it was gone. Never showed any signs of anything. I immediately broke my personal rule about placing clams on rocks and moved all my remaining clams up high. I was and still am absolutely devistated. I adore my clams, and for something like this to happen so quickly and without warning is hard to swallow. The nice thing about Friday though is that I moved a Powder Blue tang into the tank. This is my last attempt at this beautiful fish. It eats voraciously and fits right in already after just a few hours using the mirror trick. It picks at the rocks, and seems highly sociable. The other downside is that I have two SPS mini-colonies that just aren't thriving. In the last week or so I've seen a distinct downwards slide, which includes STN. Neither of these colonies have ever had any polyp extension so to speak of. So I've dipped both in ReVive for the time being. I will be heading out to pick up more Tropic Marin Pro Coral Cure, aka the bottle that without fail leaks and stains your hands. I also pressed to do a water change, which was completed yesterday. I'm hoping it will turn things around. I need to get my Calcium reactor back in-line this week. Its been offline for maintenance, and because I wanted to place it somewhere different, but never got around to it. Its time to fire that puppy back up. I also need to pick up a new dKH test kit as mine seems to have grown little test kit legs and walked off. I'll also be picking up another new set of membranes for the RO/DI as its due for a change. I also ordered myself a gift, a photobox from Melev's reef so I can try and take a few topdown photos and learn to better use my camera to my and my tanks' advantages. Quite a few people have been asking me what we intend to do with this system once Tibet is up and running. I'll be selling this system, the tank, sump, skimmer, plumbing, and stand will be up for sale. I will however be keeping the lighting system and the livestock. I hope to have this up for sale by the end of the year! |
We've now started to struggle with keeping our parameters in check. Honestly, if its not one thing, its another. We haven't been dosing anything, just topping up and doing regular water changes.
So August 19th - 7 dKH, 540ppm Ca August 31st - 7 dKH, 480ppm Ca Bleh, I'm now just working on pulling down the Ca a touch more, and then I'll be happy. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0885-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0911-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0913-1.jpg |
This morning's parameters - 9dKH, and 450ppm Ca. I also ran out of salt, I'm two cups short of what I require, so its possible that I need to make a salt run today, or just leave it for a few more days.
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leave it 2 cups isnt going to matter Catherine, i do it all the time if im under in salt i just add a couple more cups or over i leave it out.
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Good plan. I'll just let it go and see what happens. Its still mixing up now, so now I'm just waiting to see.
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ya in your tank 180 gal 1-2 cups isnt going to matter, i would do it all the time then you are going to be low and have to drip concentrated salt water to bring it up.
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Those extra two cups definitely did something...
When we mix up our water we do so using 30g of RO/DI and 25 cups of salt. This time though 23 cups of salt yielded 1.042 SG. We're both confused how this happened, but I'm thankful that I re-test everything before we use the water. New MHs are ordered and we're just waiting on delivery. I'm sticking with my favorites, 250w XM 15K moguls. |
that dont make sense when I make salt water and i do a 5 gal change i will check my salt in the main display. If the Salt content is high i will take out of cup only making it 1.5 cups of salt. when its lower i will add a extra cup to the 5 gal change.
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Did your refractometer accicently get bumped? Maybe recalibrate? Just a thought.
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The display is fine, its the make-up water that has the problem. Calibration shows the refractometer is fine. We're just chalking it up to a one-off experience. We just ended up cutting in RO/DI to bring the salinity down.
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http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/0...e-solution.gif
New bulbs arrived yesterday, and wow what an improvement! Next up will be new T5s. September 9th, before the new MH bulbs http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_1001.jpg Today, September 11th, with the new MH bulbs http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0119.jpg I had the city in this morning to move our water meter, so that is one more thing I can knock off my to-do list for the basement. We're still waiting on moving the electrical panel, but its slowly coming along. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0061-2.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0072.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0098-2.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0152-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0151-2.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0150-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0143-1.jpg |
September 24th, 2009
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0171-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0160.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0162.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0158.jpg Damage by possibly the Urchin? http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0165-1.jpg Top down http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0183-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0179.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0182.jpg Straight on shot of the birdsnest http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0173.jpg Top down http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...DSC_0191-1.jpg Another top down. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0178.jpg |
Nice!
Catherine, what is the name of those anenomes in the eighth pic down, beneath the orange cap? I think I have some of those as well. Thanks |
Them's majano's. Lovely aint they? They're worse IMO then aiptasia.
I tried a raccoon butterfly against them and he did a bang up job removing the ones he could get at. Unfortunately he also went after a brain coral and I lost 4 clams under mysterious circumstances during his tenure (but to be fair, I'm not 100% convinced he was responsible, he might not have been). So anyhow though, if your clam load is minimal and you don't have LPS, you could try one of them.. |
Majanos!!
Darn... I guess I have a had an inkling that is what I had. They sure look the same. My biggest one is roughly 2 inches with the tentecles spread. They have split twice, so I have 4 now. Thats in 2 and a half years. Mine don't spread very quick, so still controllable. Sorry Catherine for hyjacking, your corals are awesome. Someday I will have some tool. |
I have a less polite name for them....
I have tried injecting them with lemon juice, air, and kalk paste with no luck. My next step is going to be covering them over either with epoxy or with super glue. They are a HUGE pain and they spread quickly and easily. I want a raccoon butter fly, or two! |
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Lovely looking corals Catherine!
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Give them time .. they will.
I had the same sort of "live and let live" philosophy with mine. In hindsight this was a tactical error. All of a sudden one day I just noticed they are everywhere and on every rock, even in the scutes of some of my clams. I would keep an eye on them for sure. The raccoon is the only thing that took a liking to them. I had a CBB before and he wouldn't touch the majano's. Quote:
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vi had a problem too i used about 4 to 5 peppermint shrimp and they took them away.
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I love your new pics Catherine. The corals are looking great! That birdsnest is a stunning.
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I'm trying to convince Kevin to go for a drive today. I can't drive because I have a knee injury. Maybe he'll take me on a trip for all of the above, butterflies, shrimp, TA products, and some other goodies.
I've figured out the "trick" with this new system and my next chosen brand of salt. Things have really been 'popping' lately. It just top off via a kalk reactor, and dose with baking soda for dKH at around 8-9ppm. I have the calcium reactor offline, but I would like to get it back online, and saving me the trouble of dosing. |
:biggrin: a drive???? up north you mean???:biggrin: we got T.A. aptaisia destroyer,peps and a flutterby in atm.:lol: Corals are lookin goooood Catherine:wink:
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I'm coming for a visit. I just need to get my list of stuff I need together.
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I visited, I purchased, and I came home happy. New additions to be revealed shortly.
Finally got around to ordering some more expansion modules for the RKE. Picked up the Net module, two pH probes (one replacement, one for a reactor), and SL2 and a Salinity Probekit. I got tired waiting for the expansion power bars to come in stock, and just pulled the trigger. The shipping was quite reasonable, $29USD, which I very much so appreciate. Shipping from out of country plus customs charges are usually the largest deterent for certain purchases. Everything purchased right now can be used immediately on the 180g, and will definitely be put in use on Tibet when she is up and running. |
How is he doing Catherine? Tell me Tell me tell me:lol:
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She is big and pig-like....food inhaling machine!
I got dumped by my BB Storm yesterday so I sent it off to go fly a kite with a hole in it. To complement my RKE purchase I got myself an iPhone, you know as a treat for all that hard work! I got myself iReef to help out with checking in on the go. I like the peace of mind that can potentially come with this. http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ika/iphone.jpg |
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