A New Goody For My Tank And Updated Pics Of My 90 Reef

ohiorn67

Member
Just wanted to share our newest arrival...our new toadstool front and center in the tank. He was exactly what I was looking for in that spot so I hope he likes it. He was put in last night and then I tried working him into the perfect spot this morning. he seems mighty happy. Also wanted to share our new tank shots I just took. The tank is just over 3 months old. We have really gone very slow with placing things in but suddenly it is looking more like a reef.....I just love it!! We are getting over a diatom bloom on our sand thank goodness and we also noticed we had some red slime algae on the sand growing...so of course we were trying to figure out how that began and we finally realized it was because we put in the carbon 2 weeks ago. Sometimes carbon can leak phosphates which we did not know. Our phosphate has always been low to none but now it was a little higher so we traced it back to that. We removed the carbon our last water change and now the red slime once we sucked it out this time is gone!! All seem stable for the moment and we are so glad. Here are lots of pics so enjoy....If anyone can recommend anything else to add, please do!! We will be adding a couple more fish and we will be done for a while. Right now we have a pair of mated maroons, a 6 line wrasse and a bicolor blenny....the blenny is sitting under the colt coral in one of the pics. ALL our fish are big time buddies, we have lucked out so far. We have had one green brain die since we started this but then found out the lfs also had an issue with one at the same time, so hopefully it was nothing we did....




 

ohiorn67

Member
finally got a pictures of my sun corals. They were treated to live brine shrimp yesterday so today they are showing off!!!
 

mlwoods007

Member
nice tank girl. i started my 90gal. about the same time as you did but mine is not nearly as established. i knew you had a 90 too so i always try to read your threads when i can. i have been trying to keep up with you for the most part, but now i see it's not going to be possible, lol. currently i have 110+lbs. LR, 3 in. sand bed, 2 powerheads, a wet dry rated at 150 gal., 4x65w pc's (just to keep it healthy until i build my retro canopy) blue hermits, a marg. snail (lol, all the others died) 1 pep. shrimp, 7 or so mushrooms, 2 emeralds, and 2 perc. clowns. im still in school and it's hard for me to drop so much money into it all the time. shoot, my roomates think im crazy because i had well over $1000 into it and didn't even have fish. anyway, i just hope mine looks that good here by the end of summer. nice job.
p.s.- what type of lights are you running?
 

fishmamma

Active Member
Hey! I was jsut admiring your tank picture s and then when I went to respond I realized it was you.
Looks GREAT. The maroons are gorgeous. Do they host any of the corals in the tank?
 

ohiorn67

Member
Hello all!! Thanks for the great compliments!! Make sure in your 90 that you have that you have 2 powerheads heading up to create more oxygen into the tank, for I have learned with mine that it is a necessity...my ph drops and also once my fish got goofy because the O2 levels were not high enough because the 90 gallon is deep. send some pics of your tank! ..
FishMamma....hi again!! also thanks for the compliment!! My female maroon LOVES my bubble coral. That cave on the left is her "house" and the bubble is in front like a guard that she hangs in many times. It is very cool.
 

bigb

Member
Originally Posted by ohiorn67
The tank is just over 3 months old. We have really gone very slow with placing things in but suddenly it is looking more like a reef....

I can agree with all other posts it is very nice. But I feel this may be a little misleading to younger and less experienced to the hobby. IMO 3 months is very fast. Some will read this and try to duplicate what you have accomplished. I wish you luck but also not many people can have a tank that nice in 3 months.
 

ophiura

Active Member
I have to agree that three months is extremely fast...I tend to encourage a slower pace, especially when adding corals and tangs. I realize it is not a popular idea, but it can prevent major issues. The tank, at three months, is still relatively unstable even if what we test is spot on. So things look great, I'm not saying that they don't, but I do want to also throw out the "slow and steady" aspect may work better for many.
As an example, I have a 45g that I set up last year (combined smaller tanks). I had a sixline that was in it for about 5 months, then I added a Kole tang, and only recently have I added a coral beauty. I regret it already, BTW. I actually now think the three are too many fish. But it is true of certain corals as well.
I think things are going very well for you, and I wish you the best for continued success. Your tank gets the "thumbs up" smily I've always wanted. :yes: But I do want to echo the idea that it won't work for everyone, and I don't recommend it for everyone, including myself :D LOL
 

monalisa

Active Member
Ophiura,
Out of curiosity, was the problem in your 45 with the 6-line and coral beauty? I'm looking to add those to my tank, a 37 that has 2 false percs at this point. Just wondering.
Thanks..
Lisa :happyfish
 

ohiorn67

Member
Hi Ophuria...welcome to my thread! I see your posts alot on here...reading all the time! I realize it seems a bit fast. We have been on top of our tank every single moment...we do our water changes religiously and have water checked at lfs every single week so, so far so good. We are done adding anything more at this time. I have a total of 5 fish. the maroon pair, a 6 line wrasse, a bicolor blenny and then my newest naso tang. This tank has been relatively stable...we had a moment about 5/6 weeks ago where ph dropped for a couple of days which I think was due to overfeeding and also our cannister filter line was crimped which left us with less gas exchange. I am letting this tank settle now for a while. I am currently watching for a larger used tank on here, in my local paper and so one of these days I will be upgrading. I figure if I watch now by the time we are ready we will have all the goods. We watch lots of posts on here and do try and take lots of advice. I do know that we have been successful so far probably because we put alot of time into it and also have just gotten lucky. I wish the same to all, but realize maybe it was a bit fast now..thanks for any advice now and future advice you can give. By the way....our naso is eating off the algae clip and picking at the rotating powerhead we have for more red algae on there. He has yet to want to eat anything else. I have sprirula (think you spell it like that), formula 1 and mysis shrimp...have tried a touch of all to encourage him....soaked in garlic also....only does he love the clip. Is it ok to keep the clip in there more often until he starts going towards other food? I don't want him to be hungry but don't want to pollute the tank...wondering if keeping algae clip in there is better than trying several attempts to other floating food, what is your imput?
 

ohiorn67

Member
thank you coralcrazy!! When we bought them we were very unsure, we had never actually seen them open at the lfs...we bought with the idea of doing our best to get them to come out. We still continue to take them out of the tank twice a week to feed because our cleaner shrimp is a pig and is all over them when they try to feed. We put them in a plastic bowl we use just for them....put in tank water...then in go the coral for about 30 min each time. we feed them mysis and cyclopeeze and they LOVE both.
 

coralcrazy

Member
Hight maintenance corals it sounds like!!! There color though is amazing though, so i would say worth it for sure. I had never seen anyone with them in there personal tank. Looks like a great buy!!!
 

ohiorn67

Member
yup, these guys depend on NO light..they depend on you feeding them but they are extremely easy to feed and it is actually kind of fun to watch them slurp the stuff in!!! Get one,they are worth it!
 

ophiura

Active Member
Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Ophiura,
Out of curiosity, was the problem in your 45 with the 6-line and coral beauty? I'm looking to add those to my tank, a 37 that has 2 false percs at this point. Just wondering.
Thanks..
Lisa :happyfish
No, the problem is with the Kole and the Coral Beauty. The Kole, who has been in there some time, is slightly smaller but not really willing to be submissive. The Coral Beauty was already in captivity for over a year...so she is strong, adapted, and ready to dominate. Neither is particularly willing to be the "second." The sixline, who got along well with the Kole (actually seemed to hang out a fair amount) is somewhat oblivious to the new fish. It is much more content to look at its own reflection in the glass. I might anticipate problems if and when I add a final fish, which would certainly be far smaller than the Kole and Coral Beauty. I held off rearranging the rocks, a royal pain in a coral tank of any size, but did it on Tuesday after seeing some disconcerting signs. I don't like the rock, and they sparred as soon as I was finished. So I haven't been a happy camper. But their behavior and feeding is normal...just one needs to give in, and hopefully not by death.
 
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