Christy's 180 build

Lance · #1 07-25-2010, 10:57 PM

Welcome back Christy! The PJ's will come around. I've had one for going on 3 years and he was like yours at first. After awhile though he learned to come out and get his grub at feeding time. They lose a little timidity after awhile.

christyf5 · #2 07-26-2010, 12:37 AM

The vacation was great, we went to my husbands family cabin at a lake near Fernie, the weather was damned near perfect (which equals sunny with a breeze so I don't die of the heat) except for a couple stormy/rainy days which were kind of neat.

Its funny, the pyjama cardinals come out when the lights are out so it must not necessarily be a flow issue as nothing gets changed at night, I guess with all the big fish they figure they might end up as a snack so they only come out after everyone has gone to bed.

Found my royal gramma, he came out to eat a few minutes ago!!!!!!!!!

Lance · #3 07-26-2010, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christyf5

Its funny, the pyjama cardinals come out when the lights are out so it must not necessarily be a flow issue as nothing gets changed at night, I guess with all the big fish they figure they might end up as a snack so they only come out after everyone has gone to bed.

Found my royal gramma, he came out to eat a few minutes ago!!!!!!!!!

PJ's are naturally a nocturnal fish. They will change this in captivity though. Hurray! Glad you found the R.G.

Greenmaster · #4 07-26-2010, 01:07 AM

Yay! It's always nice when you find a lost fish.

christyf5 · #5 07-31-2010, 03:57 AM

Another update as I've decided to start ultralith and today is the day. Looking at the tank, the nutrient load is just far too high, rampant algae, majanos, vermetid snails etc have got to go or at least get toned down some. My previous use of ultralith eliminated brown wafer algae and well, most algaes except for coralline and caulerpa. It also seemed to eliminate vermetid snails. I can't remember if I had aiptasia or majanos at the time but hopefully it slows their growth too.

Looking at some of the corals, they've really lost a lot of color due to the excess nutrient load. Its nothing that can't be fixed via waterchanges and due diligence with feeding but its the algae that bugs me the most, that and the majanos which I think I counted about 50 more pop up while I was gone. So much for the killing spree.

This is a crap photo but you can sort of see the corals have diminished in color some from last month:

July 30

June 11

Ugh those are terrible photos and you can't really see much of anything. My "indicator coral" which tells me how happy the tank is and how happy I am with the tank is the big pink Pocillipora damicornis on the left hand side. Here is a closer shot:

Its spent most of its life being the funny shade of browny pink it is today and I've spent most of its life trying to make it the lovely pink it was on June 11th. I'm determined to get it back there.

Some comparison photos of coral coloration:

June 11th

July 30

June 11

July 30

And just some shots of various pests I want gone from the tank for later comparison:

Wafer algae:

Halimeda:

Majanos:

Lance · #6 07-31-2010, 04:19 AM

In the FTS comparison pics the Regal tang is in almost exactly the same position.

Good luck with the ultralith. I hope it works for you.

jorjef · #7 07-31-2010, 04:25 AM

I need to hi-jack for a second. In the last photo there is some round pink'ish/purpleish growth on the rocks with round holes in the middle...What is this stuff?? I have some of the same but also grows in long stringy lengths...Seems to be some type of sponge

christyf5 · #8 07-31-2010, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance

In the FTS comparison pics the Regal tang is in almost exactly the same position.

yeah he really hates the black cloth I put on the back of the tank for FTS. He wigs out in that corner practically the whole time I have it on, which is why sometimes the pics look like arse, cuz i'm trying to get the shot too quickly.

lastlight · #9 07-31-2010, 05:58 AM

Perhaps the color is a bit diminished but your tank really great mature look to it. I've never had that wafer algae...call me nuts but it kinda looks cool?

Greenmaster · #10 08-16-2010, 01:25 AM

wow I love your tank... I hope I can grow corals to look as good as yours some day. (they look great even though you went on vacation.)