My reef journey -Jocelyn

[gregzz4]

Kool

Can't wait to see some new pics !!!!

[NightShadeFairy]

Well, I haven't posted pics yet.. My tank is almost finished the ugly stage of the new tank transfer from the old one.. The brown alga bloom is almost finished.. It's been ugly and difficult to keep on top
of. I have been cleaning glass every second day and have left it for three days a few times, as my hippo (regal) tang got ick (of course he did arg) from the stress of the transfer. So reaching my arm down in there to muck about is an extra stress Jack (my tang) doesn't need. He is almost over it, alga is starting to back off.. And now I'm going to throw things into chaos again by getting my new lights on sat.
But then I will be able to start getting any kind of corals!! Wooo!!!
Progress.
I am seriously considering purchasing a new tank though.. I am not sure yet if I am digging the acrylic.. Arg. That will be an even bigger job than switching from the 55g to the 120g as the 120 will be extremely difficult to get sand out of, it only has openings in the top.
We shall see.
Will post pics soon..

[NightShadeFairy]

So, I have decided to let things be for now and go ahead with things as planned, I will just be super careful, and hope for the best, as I really love the dimensions of this tank.
Yesterday I got new lights, was hoping the legs would work with the dimensions of the tank, but as I was buying them off a fellow member I got an excellent deal than what I was originally planning for (new) so I wasn't about to be too choosy about measurements as long as it was enough light for my tank
So my choice is using the hanging kit and eventually having a canopy built to put them into.
Here are finally some pics of my new yellow Tang, and purple fire fish


When the kids and I where trying to pick out names for the yellow tang, I jokingly suggested Big Bird, as the new tang was the smallest of the group and yellow of course.. My daughter was so vehement that "NO you are NOT naming it that!!" that I kept saying "I think we should name it Big Bird!" several times to bug her lol!
(she is 15 and a real character)
I actually didn't want to name it that, but now it's kind of stuck because of the joke..
So it's unofficially Big Bird until we find a better name, and the firefish we named Sméagol (Gollum's name from Lord of the Rings) because the firefish immediately made itself a home in a cave.. So Sméagol it is
I only have 4 types of mushrooms in the tank so far, today I am going to pick up what I call my first 'big girl' corals.. I am a bit nervous as I am so new at the corals, but super stoked as well
Will post pics later

[NightShadeFairy]

I notice the firefish looks like its in a different tank, but I think it's just because of the angle the pics were taken at, and the new sand is still slightly battling the alga bloom.

[NightShadeFairy]

Oh yes, I am also trying to figure out the best way to put a background on the glass.. I see on here many people paint their tanks, I am too nervous to do that, I am thinking I will put a background up, now to decide if I should do blue or black.. I'm leaning towards black so the cords that I am not able to hide don't show as much..

[NightShadeFairy]

Yay! I got my first coral today! (I love my mushrooms but they are so easy I don't really count them lol)
I got a beautifully colored purple and green frogspawn. I am a nervous Nelly waiting to see if it adjusts and likes my tank.. I will post a pic in a few days.
This is big for me as I've always jut had fish aside from the various types of mushrooms.

[daplatapus]

I think the hardest time I have with getting new corals is tank placement. For some reason, no matter how much reading I do I'm never quite sure how to interpret instructions like "medium light, medium flow" with my personal tanks conditions. The indecision and fear of not giving a coral it's optimal spot first off always makes me nervous. And yet I think the only coral I've hurt was a Blastomussa I put too close to the light and it melted away to almost nothing before I realized that's what the problem was. It has since recovered and is very healthy.
But corals (IMHO) definitely round out the look of a SW tank and I'm probably more fascinated with my corals than I am with my fish.
So congrats on venturing into the world of corals I love frogspawns, they're very cool especially once they fill out. Mine seems to like being right on the bottom in an area I'd describe as medium to lower flow.