Nebthet's 56g Reef

[Nebthet]

Near end of the month pic updates and as you can see the SPS are still growing like weeds.

The one tip on this one rtn'd a bit after a hermit got up there picking at it, but has since stopped. It is growing out nicely now and coloring up to a nice purple more and more. I am still trying to determine what type of Acro this one is.


This Tru TriColor is still growing decently. It continues to encrust the base and I am hoping it completes it before the stupid holdfast epoxy decides to let loose.


The Red MontiCap is doing really nicely. It is twice the size as when I first got it and is about a week or two away from starting to encrust on the tonga branch end just behind it.


The Tricolor on the left is starting to show growth now. It has grown about 5cm in the last couple of weeks and it is coloring up purple on the tips.
The previously unknown on the right, is actually a frag of an ORA Joe the Coral. It took a while to determine it for certain as I was juggling between that and blue-tipped tenuis (which is the same thing, but with less white coloring).


The back end of the Joe the Coral and the Tricolor, showing more of the white on the Joe with the long branching that is happening.


The Digis are doing just fine and the purple you can see the new branching happening more now. I am hoping that a portion of one of these branches of both the red and purple chooses to encrust on one of the live rocks for more stability. I don't trust epoxy any more.


The Green Bottlebrush has now began encrusting onto the Tongan Branch, it is also continuing to grow quickly and the new branches are really taking off.

[Nebthet]

Time for a quick pic update.

zoas growing strong as usual and on the sandbed now.


Blue tipped Tenuis and Tricolor are both still doing well. Not as much growth over the last month, but I have done a water change and moved a couple of things so I think that did something.



Red MontiCap is now starting to adhere itsself on the tonga branch just behind it. Woot.




Omen





GSP and Duncans viewed from the left side of the tank.


Digis are growing like crazy. The red digi's one branch is growing in a more circular pattern which is kinda cool. The purple-tipped is growing new branches everywhere, as evident from the second pic which is a view from the left side of the tank.



The green bottlebrush is branching out nicely now.



And to make Jacobnano happy, a one image FTS. As you can see. I took out a couple small rocks and in return added one large, and might I say heavy piece of LR to the right side of the tank. I had this rock in a 10g tank in the kitchen with no light on it, hence why it is sooo white.


Finally, the newest addition to my home.His name is Orden.

[Nebthet]

Got some new stuff today and thought I would share.

Mini Sabae (~4" diameter). It will grow.. and I hope it likes it up in the right corner of the tank for now. I am hoping the juvi clowns will be hosted by it and get at least a little security there. It has a lot of room up there to expand as it grows and good gentle alternating flow.


Purple Tipped Elegance. This one, like my other, will take a few days to fully acclimate and expand in my tank. It is opening up as it is, which is nice. I considered getting the pink tipped one too but decided it would be better to wait.


Orange and Green Bali BTA. It is rather small ~2.5inch in diameter and was attached to one of my new clams when I got it. It came off when acclimating in the bag in the tank and so I placed it mid tank on the rock allowing it to get to an area with a little shade. Now that I don't have a stupid cleaner shrimp in the tank, I don't have to worry as much about having food stolen from it when feeding. (Hermits are easy to keep occupied elsewhere.I wish I could capture the true color on this one.


New Blue Clam



Maxima Clam


Bottlebrush again


Digi's. The purple one has colored up again and continues to grow.


CandyCanes


Dendros.


Rainbow Chalice, coming along nicely. I can't beleive the length of the feeder tentacles on this little thing. 2+ inches.


Tricolor continuing to grow, and while the Blue Tipped Tenuis slowed a bit, the polyp buds have been branching out more.


I still can't confirm what acro this is. It is nice though.

[Nebthet]

Moved some of the new ones around today and took a few more pictures.


Blue Crocea: I moved this guy to the rocks in a split by the one tricolor I have. It seems much happier here. The pic doesn't do it justice. With full lights it looks more deep purple than blue.
Here is a pic without flash then with flash.



My ultra Crocea I got back in Oct.2009
It moved to the sand and it seems happiest there butted up against the rock.


Better pic of the pink rainbow chalice.


I moved the purple tipped elegance down to the sand beside my other elegance. I am hoping this one makes it. It is stressed out and hasn't expanded much yet. But there is no tearing on the sides, no brown jelly or strings coming off of it. It is just retracted most the time right now. When expanding, the tentacles appear long, not bulbous and the rest of the flesh doesn't puff up unnaturally. Yes, it is Indo and I am aware these ones don't make it half the time.


My GSP has finally attached to the rock behind it with the purple feather duster on it.. I eventually want to put one of my frag mags down there and it to encrust on that and then move it to the back wall of the tank to grow.


Peach Eyed Zoas


My Teardrop Maxima without flash (when you see it in flash it is orange).


The little sebae has settled down a little bit in it's place. Now comes the hard part and getting it back to health. After a lot of research last night on several sites these things are not naturally white or yellow in the wild, they are brown. They become this way when collected by the export companies by leaving them without light for a length of time causing them to loose their interal algae they need to live. This guy is a little more yellowish today than yestarday and I have him on the rock high in the tank under the direct light. I will be feeding it mysis shrimp every couple of days for a long while until it starts coloring up again.


My first ever frag of the Red MontiCap. It is just a tiny less than half inch piece right now, but am hoping for good growth. It has really colored up over the last 24 hours.


Xenia. I took a hammer to the rock it was on when I removed it from the tank so that I could move the xenia down to the sand of the tank. It seems it likes it alot better than being closer to the lights.


My juvi clown Omen (right) and Runt (left). They use the overhang cave now to hide when needed from the bigger clowns. As you can see they have the Onyx undertones to their skin, the black coloration just needs to come through. It is, just very slowly. I have heard from others it can take up to 18 months for an Onyx to get it's coloration. I believe it and I am thinking this rule comes into play when they are in tanks with other clowns. Otherwise if they were in their own tank they would color up faster. But that is just my theory.


New Front Tank Shot. As you can see, I took out the Koralia 4, the juvi clowns still have plenty of caves and powerheads on the other side of the tank to hide if they need to.

[Nebthet]

I just wanted to share this pic of my juvi clown Runt being hosted in my tiny sebae anemone.

[Greenmaster]

You have had some nice coral growth. The tank looks good.

[Nebthet]

Thanks Greenmaster. This recent heatwave has set the sps back a bit, but almost everything else is happier than ever.

Here are some of the pix from tonight.

My tiny xenia frag seems to like the bottom of the tank better than mid tank.


Tricolor, Blue tipped Tenuis and MontiCap: These guys are a little worse for wear but survived the heatwave. The tenuis and MontiCap lost some color, but their polyps are still alive and I hope for a good recovery.


My Orange and Green BTA moved itsself down into a crevice during the heatwave. I actually like it here a little better as it is more protected and in a much easier place to be able to feed mysis. I really wish I had the skills to show the real color on this anemone. It's nuts.


Dragoneye zoas are just as happy as ever and growing like weeds. I need to find someone local who wants to trade some zoas frags. These guys are growing over the sand subtrate now.


Pic of my chalice without any coraline algae in the way. lol


Big Momma sucking on the tentacles of my white tipped elegance coral.


The Purple Tipped elegance is looking a lot happier after the heat wave. I am hoping that eventually it will expand like my white tipped one.


My gsp are no longer PO'd from the heat. It took them a couple of days to come back out. My duncans are happier than ever and the purple tipped elegance is happy in the background.
On either side of the gsp I placed a couple frag mags. Once the gsp grows on to it, I want to transfer them to the back glass of the tank.


New frag of duncans from a different source than my larger colony. These ones didn't have the green and their heads were smaller with shorter tentacles. I want to see if good feeding and similar tank conditions will get the mto grow into ones identicle to my larger colony.
Sadly I lost one head in this one, close to three tiny barnacles which I might have to take care of if they end up bothering the duncans. I hope I don't lose them.


Front tank shot..Notice any thing different???...... finally got a decent algae scrapper, the mag flip to take care of the coraline algae. It takes a lot of work. Took two days of on and off again scrubbing to get rid of 95% of the algae on the bottom front glass.

[Nebthet]

Here are some updated pics.

The tricolor and blue tenuis are no worse for wear after the heatwave a couple weeks ago. They are slowly recovering their color.


Red MontiCap is happier than ever and has officially started growing on the branching liverock behind it.


Bottlebrush continues to grow and recolor up after the heat.


Purple tipped Digi continues to grow like a weed. I may have to start fragging this one soon. The red digi has colored back up and continues to slowly grow.


My new purple tipped elegance is settling in happy. I removed the clay pot from the tank and made more room for the elegance. I still have room back there for a third one if I want.


My established duncan colony.


My new duncan colony. I lost one head, but there are already new babies forming on the remaining.
These duncans have developed heads half the size of my other colony and have a bluer color.


My orange and green BTA is happy as ever in it's little crevise.


Unfortunately a bad picture of my Sebae anemone. It is slowly getting healthier. The tentacles are extending themselves more every day and the color of a few of them near the base and up the tentacles is starting to darken. Once this guy is the proper healthy brown color, and larger it will be moved to a nicer area on the back of the tank where it can grow out segregated from everything else.


Omen and Runt. Omen is definately continuing to develop his black coloration and his mid-bar.



Misc





And finally another Front Tank Shot

[Greenmaster]

Great pics.

[Nebthet]

Thanks GreenMaster. Can't wait to see all the pics of your tank along the way.

Got some new additions today.
Here they are under moonlights. Better pics will come later.,

This one is a real crappy pic, but look at all the green.


xmas favia and new zoas. Not sure which ones they are yet.




Some other shots:



My BTA decided it wante to live on the side of a clam again.