120gal mixed predatory reef tank

spawn · #1 06-30-2011, 03:04 AM

Sweet Pics

Madreefer · #2 06-30-2011, 05:16 AM

I was wondering if you were goin to pick up one or all of those clams. I thought about getting one myself but I dont think my wife would be too pleased as i'm goin to be a poor student for a few months starting monday. Your post before your last one with probidio in the title, what is the coral in the second from the top?

whatcaneyedo · #3 06-30-2011, 01:00 PM

This Acropora? I don't have a name for it. I got it as a small frag from Ocean Aquatics in the fall of 2008. It doesn't grow exceptionally fast but it does okay. The polyps on it are huge. I think you got a branch of it from me a few months ago.

skabooya · #4 07-02-2011, 05:45 PM

nice. i would love to see your tank again in person. i loved it,

whatcaneyedo · #5 07-02-2011, 06:11 PM

You're more than welcome to stop in again the next time you come to PG.

Before I forget. I've concluded my second one month trial of prodibio. The cyano on my sandbed did not go away this time which was unfortunate. However my orange montipora capricornis has made a full recovery. I don't know how much of that I can attribute to prodibio as I believe it was a simple matter of light shock that caused the decline in the first place. For now I'm going back to traditional reefkeeping. No more carbon or bacteria dosing/manipulation. Heavy skimming and regular water changes has worked so well for me in the past. I don't know why I keep trying to mess with it.

whatcaneyedo · #6 07-02-2011, 06:30 PM

Thanks Ronnie. The giant green brittle star actually died in April. I got it back in early 2004 and never had any problems with it because I've always stuck with fish that were too large for it to eat. I used to feed it pieces of krill or silverside several times a week which may have helped too. It was pretty disturbing to watch it die. It basically just started to disintegrate from the central disk outwards. Wikipedia states that brittle stars in general only live up to 5 years so I guess it might have been an old age thing. I haven't been able to find any information to make me think otherwise. Aside from the clam problem I haven't had many losses in the last few years. With automation my tank has become extremely stable and predictable. And of course the millions of tiny brittle stars that I have are still thriving and occupying every nook and cranny available.

whatcaneyedo · #7 07-04-2011, 03:55 AM

Its been two weeks and the powder blue tang is turning out to be quite a challenge but not in the conventional way. At first it didn't get along with the ornate wrasse. But after two days of slashing at its reflection in a submersed mirror it decided that the wrasse was okay. Now its systematically sampling some of the coral that I keep with it. From day one I've been feeding it Ocean Nutrition pellets and PE mysis each day as well as a constant supply of nori on a clip. So I guess I'm going to have to up the feeding to see if that will make it behave. I've added an automatic feeder to drop pellets twice each day and I'm increasing the portion size of nori. So far its gone after Duncanopsammia, Sarcophyton and Cladiella. The trough that it is in is 4'x3'x20" and contains close to 140gal of water. Its tank mates consist of an ornate wrasse, tailspot blenny and mandarin dragonet. The tang has been very active and readily accepts any food that is offered.

whatcaneyedo · #8 07-17-2011, 08:20 PM

I decided it was time to downsize this acropora today. I've been fragging it monthly in an attempt to keep it at a manageable size but it was still growing out of control. What I'm left with now looks 1/4 this size and kind of crappy at the moment. Needless to say I have a lot of frags and calcium reactor media...