Nebthet's 56g Reef

[Nebthet]

02-06-2010 Pix:

My Clam


Big Momma and Jigsaw


Hermits


Cleaner Shrimp


Starry Blenny: He's already been going around nipping at the algae in the tank.

[Nebthet]

Time for more pix.

Blenny cleaning up nicely.. in the FTS you can see where on the back of the tank.

New skimmer breaking in nicely. Microbubbles getting smaller and fewer. Fish don't seem to care.
Dosing some Tech-M to help with bryopsis.. some corals started coloring up when I started doing this.. just following directions on bottle and dosing 12ml twice a week.

Moved my Crocea clam from the sand bed.. where he was attached to the bottom of the tank to the rockwork instead.. He was a little PO'd at first, but shimmied a little bit and took to his new spot.






This pic looking down on the same clam... just shows how more intense the green is.


Quarter Inch more growth on Purple tip since last month.


Zoas looking happier and coloring up. I even tore off a frag to trade with someone in ONT.



Skimmer with the drain going back in the tank, as per the instructions, for the first 2 weeks until it breaks in and starts to accumulate skimmate. Thank god for the drain, otherwise I would have been standing constantly at my tank emptying the cup for these 2 weeks.


FTS, where in the back you can see where the blenny cleaned.

[Nebthet]

More pix... because I love taking them.

Zoa frag under actinics


Zoa colony with flash... these guys are getting nice and bright.


Unknown Acro#1, is branching out more in the back, but you can definately see here the improvement in the polyp extension.


Runt is still growing slowly, but strongly. He sticks to around the Koralia pump for safety. His tailbar is still coming in.


Omen is growing slowly too, and as you can see here his mid-bar is now touching and on the verge of merging soon I hope.


GSP under actinics


Dendro head


Green bottlebrush under actinics


Unknown Acro#2. This one has really started to grow in the last week or so. The last two pics of it with the white tips show the actual growth. The polyps are extended really nicely as well.




Lastly my digis under actinic.. my red digi is awsome red.... love it.. I am so glad it is growing more now.


The Remora is just about done breaking in... Since I dose in my tank I am giving it an extra week to break in since I didn't want to stop dosing during the breakin period.

Mrs Blenny... which I am gonna name Sam the Eagle anyways.. continues to decimate the hair algae.
The combination of the blenny and Tech-M supplimentation has really helped to control this, rather than just using Tech-M and raising mag to 1500. This seems a more natural solution and my corals are loving it.

[Nebthet]

Got my new frags in the mail today from a fellow Ontario Reefer.

Red MontiCap. This one has a nice bright red coloration under the actinics. I can't wait to see it grow.


The one on the left is new. I am not sure which one it is, but figure it is one of the tricolors. Time will tell as it colors up.


This one has more of a bluish tinge than a purple with a bit of a green base to it. It is very nice looking and polyps have extended out already.


This is the green thinbranching deepwater acro. It has a really nice light green coloration and even more so when under actinics. It didn't come on a frag plug, but I found a place for it, and hope it will encrust without issues.


Two of the newer frags. I am almost certain the one on the right is a tricolor. Don't know what the one on the left is. It has a bluish tinge too. I am gonna have to buy an army of peppermint shrimp to deal with the aiptasia.. it is beginning to drive me nuts.


The one on the left is new. More than likely another tricolor.


The two new chalices. Toxic on the left and Multicolor/Rainbow on the right.


This is a purple encrusting montipora.


This was one of the freebies I was sent. I think it is a superman monti... I have another frag of the same to that was also sent.. It is larger, but a little paler.. I am holding it for another reefer who wants to try his hand at sps.


The larger of the same type of frag.


I accidentally broke a branch off my purple tipped monti.. The tip is sitting vicariously on the live rock right now but not sliding anywhere so it will either encrust there or I will be giving it to Systemtool as well.
It is a fast growing sps so I am not worried much and the digi is no worse for where.


View of the long narrow with the new Acros added. Much nicer looking now.


Now... One thing I will say.. I hate hate hate hate hate ... reef epoxy. That crap just doesn't like to stick. It is a pain in the arse and when it does stick a few months later the frags loosen off the rocks. Grrr. They need to make something a lot better than that stuff.

[shrimpchips]

Looking good!

Try a sandwich - cyanoacrylate (crazy ) gel glue - epoxy - gel glue - frag/rock. Works like a charm. The epoxy gives an exact contoured substrate for the gel glue to bond the rocks together so it holds pretty tight. Just make sure to use a lot of glue as the glue cures instantly on contact with water - basically you need a big glob

[Nebthet]

thanks I will try that because I am so not happy with the reef stuff being sold and I have tried a few types with the same results. The glue will be interesting.

[Nebthet]

Pix Update: All the new sps and chalices seem to be doing well. The only one not is the monti confusa, but it is hanging in there and I hope it will encrust then color up. Time will tell.

First for the fish.

Runt is still small, but has learned his place in the hierarchy of the tank and is not picked on as much as before. At least he is not alone in the one corner any more but Omen joins him most the time.


Omen is doing well and continues to color up. I find it interesting how the development of colors of clownfish differ when they are in a tank by themselves compared to when they are in a tank with other clownfish of the same species. It seems there development is a lot slower color and size wise when that happens. As long as they are healthy I am happy though. It a couple more months I will have had them for a year.


Jigsaw is the main bully of the tank. He puts Omen and Runt in their place all the time. At least it is not as aggressive as it could be. He shows pairing/breeding behaviour with Big Momma. Time will tell if they will be successful.


Big Momma always boots around the whole tank. She also puts the younger ones in their place from time to time, and can be a little more aggressive than Jigsaw, but the babies have learned how to quickly get behind the live rock where she can't reach them.


Sam the Eagle, named after the muppet character she resembles, continues to boot around the tank eating algae and some flake food.


The Xenia in my tank is making a come back now. I am hoping it continues to grow and spread more. I really like the stuff. One day I may regret these words but right now I don't. I have major algae and aptasia issues so Xenia is the least of them.


These pink eyes zoas are doing really well now from what they were a month ago. They have grown bigger and so have their skirts. I am really happy about that. I find it rather interesting because my skimmer is draining back into the tank, from the collection cup drain, but through some polyfill first, so I have to wonder if the improvement is the skimmer or the additives. Hmmmmm.


Duncans are happy as usual. Once I get the aiptasia issue in my tank resolved I may move them to another area so they can spread more.


Mr Clam has been slowly shifting himself closer and closer to the sand every day. I am hoping he stays in this spot rather than going to sand. I don't want him to attach to the tank bottom.


The Chalices are doing well. The aiptasia that was right beside the green chalice has decided it doesn't like to touch it and has shrunk. Hmmm... Makes me want to buy a hundred chalices to put every where there is aiptasia. LOL.


This encrusting monti is doing ok. Keeping it's color. It is more of a blue/purple with red polyps than my pic shows.


This is a multicolor monti, very close to the superman monti. It's colors have brightened within the last week and the red polyps are starting to show more. When I put it in it's place I accidentally turned it so the larger piece is turned away from the front of the tank, so I hope it starts growing a bit faster.


The Red MontiCap is doing well. The sides have colored up and are showing new polyps, so I can't wait to see how it will grow when it does start.


I am not sure which type of Acro this is. I am thinking a blue tenuis. It's polyps are slowly coming out. Don't mind the bit of algae string on it. It came loose after the pic was taken.


This Acro, I think it is the cereulus or something like that... It is continuing to grow nicely and slowly encrusting the plug it is on.


This one fell off the top where it was beside the green bottlebrush. It is rather hardy as it didn't faze the coral one bit. I am thinking this is one of the tricolors, or another tenuis. eventually as it grows I will figure it out.


The Green Bottlebrush is doing very well. It is now developing new branches and encrusting more on the bottom portion.


The Green Thin Branching Deepwater acro fell off of where I puttied it. I hate epoxy.. hate hate hate it.. but at least it is happy where it fell so I am gonna leave it there. It's polyps are out. So I am taking that as a good indicator and it hasn't lost any color.


On the left, my purple tipped digi has healed very quickly where the one branch broke off. The middle one is another blue tenuis I think, and the one on the right is the true tri-color. That one fell from it's epoxied place originaly and I replaced it there.. that is how I broke the digi... but it hasn't moved since and it now has the black polyps extending so it appears happy there. No RTN showing from where I handled it so a super healthy frag.


Another tri-color on the left is doing nicely with polyp extension now. The unknown on the right is really growing now. At least 1 to 2mm in the last week and a half. The tips have become a dark bluey purple and the rest is more of a flourescent white. It is even encrusting on the base more. I am happy to see this after more than a year having it in my tank. The second pic is a shot of it from the back.




Over all the tank is doing ok.. I have emailed berghia.net and they have confirmed they can ship their nudis to Canada without issues so I am gonna be making a good order for a few of them to get rid of the aiptasia in my tank. Then I am gonna get an emerald crab to try to take care of that darn bubble algae.