Looking really good Mindy!!

Nice!

Thanks for the comments guys!

I started dosing Lugol's Solution about 10 days ago. I've just been dosing one drop twice per week, so I've only done 3 drops so far. There are only about 75 gallons in the system right now. So this is 67% of the recommended dose. Iodine test kits are so inaccurate they are nearly useless, so I won't be testing for it, but I will watch my corals closely since overdosing should be easy to see.

More pics... :)

My Squamosa has been growing like mad. It is only about 2 1/2" from tip to tip now, but has put over 1/4" on the shell in the last 3 months. This is my first clam, but that seems like pretty good growth, no?
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug2220093.jpg



I was trying to take a pic of the Meteor Shower Cyphastrea, but the true Perc got in the pic, and I thought it looked perty. Too bad it's grainy.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug2220095.jpg



Some new SPS frags. They all came to me 1-2 weeks ago almost entirely browned out, but are starting to show some exciting colors poking through (tough to see in the pic). :D Coral Master's blue polyped pink birdnest and rainbow Stylo, an ORA green polyped pink birdnest, and a pink Mille. Oh, the green polyped birdnest fell on my Lobo and burned a branch off. Grr. I need to trim it off.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Aug222009.jpg



Here are a couple more SPS frags that are unIDed so far. I'm told they are different which I think is probably right, but they are very close. The smaller one seems to have green corallites, where the bigger one has purple corallites. Both have brown polyps right now. I'm hoping they will color up into something perty.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug2220096.jpg




Here are some sequence shots of my Symphyllia's feeder tentacles:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...2/IMG_1025.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug2220092.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Aug172009.jpg

I managed to get a decent bulkhead so I could plug the hole that is drilled in the overflow so I could fill the tank most of the way. :D Still waiting on bulkheads and unions so I can get the sump plumbed in. One day....one day... ;)

One of my RBTAs moved to the back of the big arch...grr.

Pretty cool to watch the color slowly showing up on the browned out frags I got. Especially the rainbow Stylo. Very cool. :D

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Aug262009.jpg

SPS frag pics...starting to show some color (I bought them browned out).

These two have lost a bit of color since I have been handling them A LOT. The smaller one (a nice tricolor) had red bugs, so I actually removed it from my tank and washed it directly under the tap until the bugs were off. Obviously the coral was not happy about this, but I figured a $15 frag isn't worth the trouble! It looks like it will survive, but is in poor condition. The other one has lost some color just from falling from it's perch into the sand a few times, and being handled a lot for red bug inspections. Luckily it was only the tricolor affected, and I have not seen them since last Saturday when I discovered them.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3020095.jpg

Here is ORA Green birdnest (from Texas) and Coral Master's blue polyp birdnest (I got it from a fellow hobbyist though). The blue polyp one is just starting to show some signs of bluing up, nice and peachy colored now though. The ORA green one is nice and peachy now too. :D
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3020094.jpg

Here is Coral Master's rainbow Stylo (also purchased from a fellow hobbyist browned out), and it is coloring up really nicely too. This coral is SOOOO cool!! It's really tough to see in the photos, but the body is turning quite pink, and the growth tips are iridescent green with the polyps just starting to show some color. I'm really excited to grow this frag out.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3020093.jpg

This pink Mille was totally brown when I got it, and now it is quite rosy (polyps are still brown though). This will be a nice colony. :)
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3020092.jpg

And I'll throw in a shot of my Meteor Shower Cyphastrea from Wicked Frags. I took a chunk off so I could trade a fellow reefer for a chunk of his really cool kinda rainbow Cyphastrea. Pretty ctoked about that. :D
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Aug302009.jpg

Woohoo! Got a Wavebox!! As most of you know from my latest thread trying to figure out how to get it going well in my tank. :lol: I have wanted a Wavebox for several years now, so I'm pretty stoked to have it. I am contemplating trading it to a friend for his Wavebox Nano though...might work better in my tank.

I got a new mini colony today. Acro of some sort. Ha...I need to learn the species. Barely a sign of polyps so far. Polyps weren't out at the store either...probably pretty stressed. Hopefully it will be lookin good tomorrow.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept1020094.jpg

You can finally see some pink in this photo of the rainbow Stylo!! :D Polyps are retracted from the Wavebox. Showing some decent growth too.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept1020092.jpg

And the whole tank:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept102009.jpg

Nice colour palette taking shape there! Reminds me of Sphelps' tank/photos. That first acro is awesome!

Agreed....that first acro is da bomb....lookin pretty sweet there Mindy....the tank I mean:wink:

Thanks Brett, it has a lot of growing to do to catch up to Steve's tanks!! But his are very nice, so thanks for the comment! :)

Haha, aw shucks Doug. :o

I can't wait to dose the tank with Spur2 and get that Acro to drop the brown. THEN it will be stellar. :p

Myka, your tank is looking awesome!!!

Any you told me that SPS was never in your future...sheesh, you look like a pro already!

Drop the brown? I thought you were above that sort of toilet humour Mindy =)

looks good. when are you adding the jawfish?

Thanks Mark!! Well, I started leaning more towards SPS again since I am around the tank all the time so I am consistent enough for SPS, plus none of my LPS can be in the upper half of the tank because the lights are too bright. :lol: How are those SPS frags doing that I gave you last year?

:lol: Brett!!

karazy (is it Eli?), the Jawfish are actually arriving tomorrow. :D There may also be a Perc and female Bangaii to make pairs with my existing fish. The Jawfish will go into QT for awhile though.

col. sounds good. oh, and my name is Evan :)

I knew it was an E word. :p

Woohoo! I received a live order from The Reef Shoppe today! :D

I received the 4 Pearly Jawfish today! I was going to put them in QT for a few weeks so I could deworm them, and get them used to eating from the turkey baster. However, they came in looking VERY healthy and Kelly assured me they were eating well before he sent them, so I decided to put them straight into the tank since the other side of the argument is that Jawfish do notoriously poor in QT due to being easily stressed. I'm hoping I made the right decision.

Two of the Jawfish are happily making burrows already, one is just hiding behind a lone piece of live rock, and the fourth is MIA. The fourth might be in the same burrow as one of the others though since I put two in the same general area. I'm crossing my fingers and stressing out about these fish as I have had poor luck with them in the past. My whole sandbed and part of the rockscape were designed around the Jawfish, so I'm hoping my idea of a good habitat is the same as theirs!

So...that means the True Perc and (hopefully female) Bangaii Cardinal that I also received are in my QT since I didn't want to add 6 fish at the same time. The True Perc is gorgeous, I can't wait to add him. :)

I've started dosing more ZEOvit lately as per suggestions on the ZEO forums...

Monday: Coral Vitalizer (3 drops)
Tuesday: Lugol's (1 drop), Coral Snow (4 mL)
Wednesday: Coral Vitalizer (3 drops)
Thursday: B-Balance (4 mL)
Friday: Coral Vitalizer (3 drops), Coral Snow (4 mL)
Saturday: Lugol's (1 drop)
Sunday: B-Balance (4 mL)

.

I think you made the right decision not to QT. Not whatsoever influenced by the profound failure of my last QT attempt but because I think you nailed it, jawfish just won't do well in a typical QT setup. Not unless the QT was setup exactly like your jawfish biome anyhow.

You do have a cover right? They will be incredibly apt to jump. I found that as they get comfortable in their new home this gets considerably better but you can't prevent the odd sort of random startling so IMO it's better to have a setup where if they do jump, all that can happen is that they fall back in.

Thanks Tony. :) I do have the QT setup with the Jawfish in mind, so I hope I don't end up having to medicate the Perc and Bangaii! :lol: It's more like a temporary home than a QT.

The tank isn't covered, but I lowered the water level, so they shouldn't be able to jump out. I do have a canopy "wrap" in the plans, but it will be open in the back for airflow...maybe I will put up some egg crate in the back, but I doubt that would keep them in.

As of this morning the one is still MIA (but could be in the big burrow with one of the others) and the other three have borrows made.

Oh, on Saturday I changed my f'ugly Coralife 10,000K halide bulbs to PlusRite 20,000K. All of these bulbs came with the fixture I bought. The Coralife's only had 3 months use on them (then I used them for 5 months), and the PlusRite had been turned on, but not used (until now). So I figure I may as well use the bulbs. I'm sooo sick of the pee-yellow Coralife's though which look as yellow as the 6500K bulbs I have on my freshwater planted tank! So I'm done with those awful Coralife's. Not sure what kind of PAR the PlusRite have, but even being 20,000K they seem brighter than the Coralife's (although eyes often lie). I don't think the PlueRite are showing a true 20,000K though, I think they are closer to 16,000K. The tank looks much nicer with the PlueRite...way more crisp.

Well just read through your whole thread. Glad to see that everything has turned out so well.Tank is looking awesome. I would also agree that you did the right thing with the Jawfish. The little buggers do stress very easily. If you are going to head a little more into the SPS side using some Zoevit products, you may want to also try the Extra in rotation with your CV. I got some good results with it.

Myka,

I've been using the PlusRite bulbs for over a year now (they're cheaper but I replace them more often to ensure PAR) and I'm happy with them.

I know you don't like it too blue so 16K might be more to your liking.

I just fed the tank, and blew some of the frozen food water into the tank first to get the smell in there (garlic too), then target fed the Jawfish with a turkey baster. Two of them ate hungrily. :D One is looking stressed still (he has a sucky burrow too...bad location, hardly has a little hole at all), and he did not eat. The fourth one is still MIA. :lol:

The new Bangaii ate, but the True Perc didn't eat yet. He is also looking stressed. I'm thinking he may break out with a disease in the next couple days here...good thing he is in the QT. He has a big fat belly though, so I'm not worried about him starving at this point.

The whole thread? Cool. :) Thanks for your comments too. I am fairly confident I made the right decision to not QT the Jawfish. I used Pohl's Xtra for a very short time, when my little bottle ran out. It is one I do plan to use again, same with Sponge Power which I used for several months - it recently ran out though. I am just starting up one additive at a time, and watching the tank. The ones I plan to try in the next few months are: Spur2 (already have it, might do first dose tonight), Amino Acid Concentrate, an maybe Stylo-Pocci Glow.

Hey Mark! So...how are those SPS frags doing anyway??? Where do you buy the PlusRite bulbs? As you know, I have never liked 20K lighting, but I do like these bulbs - I think I'm leaning towards a bluer spectrum lately. *gasp* In combo with my three T5s (two blues and a Fiji Purple) the tank is definitely blue, but not too bad. I think if I traded out one of the blues for another Fiji Purple it just might be perfect. :D

I don't know what's going on Mark! There are SPS in my tank again, and the lights are blue!! :eek:

Woohoo!! All 4 Jawfish are eating, and so is the Perc! :D I found the 4th Jawfish...as I suspected there are two sharing the big burrow. The one with the teeny little burrow in the crappy spot is still looking a bit stressed, but I think he will be ok. I dosed the QT (Banger & Perc) with PraziPro lastnight since the Perc had white stringy poo, and was looking stressed. He is looking better today, but not 100%. The Banger is looking a bit stressed today though, and didn't eat. Of course my fav fishes are sensitive species. :S

I just wanted to note here that these Jawfish are the best quality Jawfish I have ever seen on the market. Way to go Kelly @ The Reef Shoppe!! :clap2:

I can't express how much I love Jawfish. They rock. They are SOOO adorable! Making their little burrows, and closing the entrances at night. Awesome fish if you have the tank for them. :)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept1520093.jpg

You lookin at ME?
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept1520092.jpg



And one of the Jawfish in the middle of closing his burrow for the night. Goodnight little guy!!
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept1520094.jpg



More good news...remember the tricolor frag that had red bugs? No sign of red bugs anywhere still, and the frag is coloring up again nicely after getting rinsed under the tap!! (I was mad at it :lol: ) Surprisingly it didn't even lose any flesh after the tap rinsing. I'm pretty happy about this since it is a nice tricolor.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Sept152009.jpg

Hey Myka,

I'm hitting about 75% on those frags you gave me. A couple of them are doing really well in my main tank. 3 others are doing okay in my nano tank...though the birdsnest has recently had a setback that I'm not sure it will recover from.

As for the PlusRite bulbs, I get them off of e-bay from trustdeal lights (an e-bay store) I've bought quite a few of them already and they've all been good. One of the LFS here found out where I bought them and bought a dozen or so to re-sell themselves. I run a 14K on my main tank and a 15K on my nano, both PlusRite DE bulbs.

I'm looking forward to seeing another FTS of your tank with the new lighting.

I have to check out Reef Shoppe when I come back from vacation. I want 4 jawfish as well.:wink::wink:

Hi Myka!
nice looking tank!
I just switch to plusrite bulbs too (250w DE 14k), and really like the look they give! for now my corals seems to like them (it's just been almost 2weeks since I change).. I have 3 14k and 4T5s (2x 80w 60'' Actinic White et 2x 80w 60'' Fiji Purple) in a modified Odysea fixture.
I search many forums about Plusrite bulbs and not many people are saying that they use them...
will you post pics of your tank with the new lights? So people will see the diference?

Apologies if this info is in the thread somewhere .. where can one buy these plusrite lamps? Are they an ebay thing? (Sorry, just haven't heard of them before.)

Here you go.

http://stores.shop.ebay.ca/Trust-Dea...34Q2ec0Q2em322

Well I'm glad you're having some success with those frags Mark. :)

Van-rookie: Make sure your tank is setup Jawfish friendly...they aren't the easiest fish to keep. Very prone to stress and jumping if they aren't comfortable with their habitat.

josie: I tried to get a FTS when I first put the new bulbs in, but I couldn't get the settings right. I don't think I have a FTS with the old halides on - all my FTS are just with T5s since the halides were so ugly!! :lol:

Jawfish have always facinated me :smile: How deep is your sandbed and how coarse it it? I'd love to put some in my tank eventually. My sand was about 3 inches but it's blown around a bit so now I have some deep drifts and some shallow spots. I don't know if my sand is coarse enough for them though :neutral:

Well, two of the Jawfish have been MIA for 2 days, but today I see a third one. He is not in good condition. He has lost the bottom portion of his jaw, and he is quite stressed. I'm not sure what happened to him, and I'm not sure he is going to make it. :(

Albertan: My sand bed is 75% Caribsea Select, and 25% Caribsea Super Reef. It is 3-4" on each end of the tank where my rocks are laid out for good borrow building, and the center of the tank only has 1/2-1". I used live rock rubble to build small barriers to hold the sand up nice and deep on the ends.

Sorry to hear that. Hope you find the other two and the third somehow pulls through.

Well the one with the missing lower jaw did eat though, so I do have some hope for him. He is MIA again as of last night. I have no idea where he is hiding, but he has a good hidey hole that's for sure!! I hope this means that the 4th one is also just hiding real well. I know all 4 ate about 3 days ago, plus at the LFS before being sent 7 days ago, so the missing two aren't in any risk of starving at this point.

There is definitely a boss Jawfish. He is the biggest one that has the biggest hole. He was sharing with the 2nd one, but he kicked the second one out yesterday. Spousal warfare I think! ;)

Picked up a bottle of ZEOvit Sponge Power, which I dosed for 6 months, but ran out about 2 months ago. Will be dosing it 3 drops 3x per week.

Bought a couple Zoa frags today too. The orange ones are actually more peachy looking in person.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept2020092.jpg



Good news and bad news about the Jawfish. Good news is that the 4th one showed up, and moved in with the 1st one in the big burrow. The 2nd one is still kicked out of the burrow. :lol: All three are eating. Unfortunately, the 3rd one with the injured jaw has passed on. :(

The Jawfish:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept2720092.jpg



End shot of the tank:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ept2720093.jpg

I am highly a fan of your "less rock in tank" look. I like seeing a lot of open water in aquariums and wait for the corals to do their job and grow into the water column. Nice.

Thanks Dez! :o

Tank is looking very good Myka. Lots of great finds in there...quite a change from being in the Okanagan and wishing we had access to that stuff eh?

Ya thanks Mark! It's hard to believe that Kelowna has a population of 110,000 and has 4 saltwater stores where Saskatoon has a population of 220,000 and only has 1 store. It IS a good 1 though! :D I have really been enjoying ordering from The Reef Shoppe in Lloydminster lately though (2 1/2 hours away). I am traveling through there this weekend...maybe I will finally get to stop in!

Things are looking really good Mindy...Great shot of the trio!....Sorry to hear about the fourth:sad: