Check out my 29 BC

ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
My new Biocube has been set up for about 2 months now. I have been in the hobby for about 12 years, but this is my first reef tank. It is a work in progress and I just got a new camera today, so here are a few pics.
WTS
I don't like the placement of the Colt, which has almost doubled in size the last month or so. I'm thinking of trying a frag, which I've never done before. I hear it's hard to mess up though.

Lawnmower Blenny next to brain

A rather bad shot of my harlequin shrimp
I just got her yesterday.

I added some crushed coral because I thought a jawfish would like it, but the jawfish died while being shipped. Now I am regretting the decision, and I'm not sure he would have even liked it.
 
phils29bcinwa

phils29bcinwa

Member
Nice start to your tank, I have some pics of mine posted in here also. Just wondering if you have a starfish in there for your shrimp since that is all that they eat? The colt coral looks great, you should try to frag it because they grow very fast and will soon out grow your tank. Take a look at my post and let me know what you think.
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
Originally Posted by phils29bcinwa
Nice start to your tank, I have some pics of mine posted in here also. Just wondering if you have a starfish in there for your shrimp since that is all that they eat? The colt coral looks great, you should try to frag it because they grow very fast and will soon out grow your tank. Take a look at my post and let me know what you think.
Yeah, I have been following most of the regular BC29 posters. I love seeing the evolution of everyone's tanks. I have been trying to get my wife involved because she has more creativity in her baby finger than I have total. I have an idea for the rock work that mimics a reef ledge, but I haven't figured out how I'm going to do it, and I'm not sure the shapes of my LR will allow it.
I have a ton of asterina stars for now. The owner of my LFS said he will sell me chocolate chips for $5. In the mean time I would like to set something up where I can feed an appendage a week and rotate stars. My plan was to get a pair of shrimp, but they only had one in stock. I think it is a female, so I am going to try and get a male.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Jawfish need a deep sand bed with fine sand I believe. It would be difficult for him to burrow in crused coral.
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Jawfish need a deep sand bed with fine sand I believe. It would be difficult for him to burrow in crused coral.
I have a 5 inch sandbed with very fine sand. I put a few cups of crushed coral in because I thought it was too fine. Now I realize it probably isn't too fine, and I don't like how the CC looks. Now I have to figure out how to get the CC out. I have a couple of different sized collanders that I'm going to try. The CC is only towards the front of the tank, so I shouldn't have to disturb the entire SB.
 
K

kat74

Guest
Lawnmower Blenny next to brain

awww!! Look at that sweet little face! That is the cutest little lawnmower blenny I have ever seen!~ Hope he'll have LOTS of algae to eat!~

Tank looks good though! Keep us updated!
 
er..md

er..md

Member
The jawfish at the moody gardens aquarium are all in crushed coral, mine is in a crushed coral bed also that is at most 3 inches and he has made a nice burrow....the biggest problem I find is getting them to arrive alive...I've had 3 now arrive dead or dying and only one that made it
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
I got some new stuff
Green Mushrooms
sixline wrasse
female harlequin shrimp to go with my male
Chocolate Chip star(for shrimp)
I moved the colt and the brain, but the colt is just huge. I don't think there is any perfect spot for it. I'm going to try and frag soon.
Here are some brain shots
Under Actinics

Playing with new camera

10000K and Actinics

Colt

New Green Mushrooms

These are the best shots I could get of the sixline. He is hard to take pictures of.


Does anyone know what the white thing is behind the hermits? It looks like some sort of sponge.
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
And now some Harlequin shots
Chowing down

They shacked up right away. The larger one is the female.

Here is a shot of the star before the shrimp got it.

Full tank shot
 
sazarac

sazarac

Member
Hi ewetmill,
That looks like a great start after just 2 months!
It really amazes me to see how different each persons tank is even though we are each using the BC29!
The shrimp are gorgeous.
Did they leave the starfish a leg to stand on or is he just a lil stub now? heh heh
I don't think you will have any problems getting your wife interested.
My hubby wasn't all that keen on my tank until he started
seeing all the interesting little critters that have appeared over time from the LR.
Now he loves it.

Now if I could just get my friends and family to stop asking me where the fish are!
I'm starting with the coral, and true be told I'd be happy with just that and the hitchhikers.

Saz
 
sazarac

sazarac

Member
Hi ER..MD,
Funny you should bring up The Aquarium at Moody Gardens in a post with a colt coral!
The Aquarium is why I'm very reluctant to try some corals such as the toadstool and the colt or leather corals.
Once I saw how large they can become, I was pretty shocked they ever end up in nanos!
Those corals are HUGE! Or I should say, they can BECOME huge.
I don't go there to see the corals though, I go there to see the sharks. (sigh)
Did you happen to notice the jellyfish exhibit was gone?
I was pretty disappointed.
Actually it seemed like a couple exhibits were gone.
But still, I like going there.
Sorry to hear about your jawfish losses. That sucks.
I haven't attempted to order livestock over the net yet.
Which is one of the reasons I don't have fish yet.
No one locally has what I'm looking for.
Saz
Originally Posted by ER..MD
The jawfish at the moody gardens aquarium are all in crushed coral, mine is in a crushed coral bed also that is at most 3 inches and he has made a nice burrow....the biggest problem I find is getting them to arrive alive...I've had 3 now arrive dead or dying and only one that made it
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
Originally Posted by sazarac
It really amazes me to see how different each persons tank is even though we are each using the BC29!
I agree.
Originally Posted by sazarac
The shrimp are gorgeous. Did they leave the starfish a leg to stand on or is he just a lil stub now? heh heh
It takes them a few days to eat it. They start at the tips of the legs and move towards the center. They will actually feed the star as they eat it in order to keep it alive longer.
Originally Posted by sazarac
I'm starting with the coral, and true be told I'd be happy with just that and the hitchhikers.

I know. I think I see something new every day.
 
sazarac

sazarac

Member
I'd like to post some photos of my tank
which has been up and running for about
10 months so I can also share. But my camera sucks!
Well, it doesn't really, it's a great camera,
but not for close up underwater shots evidently.
(sigh) Oh well, some day!
It looks like you have a bit of halimeda growing on the top rock.
It's great stuff IMO.
I have nice little jungle growing right now.
How long have you had the open brain?
Do you still have the stock lighting?
I've been thinking about a red open brain,
but I'm not to sure about the amount of
lighting required to keep it healthy.
The shrimp are really pretty, but I'm not sure I can
handle the "creepiness" of them keeping the starfish
alive so as to have it longer to eat.
yikes.
They are still pretty regardless!
As for hitchhikers, I've lost track of how many times
someone has looked in the tank and asked excitedly
"What is THAT"!?

Most of the time I've figured it out, but there has been one
very odd "growth" that had me stumped until just this week.
Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?!
It's "Caterpillar Weed"! I only have the one,
but it was really freaking me out.
Now I know what it is! And I suspect I have a peanut worm living in a cave.
I've never seen the whole critter, so I'm not positive.
But it's really exciting to look in there and wonder what will pop up next!
Thanks for sharing your tank.
Saz
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
Originally Posted by nycbob
is that a chocolate star? i thought they eat corals.
Yeah they eat corals, but not if harlequin shrimp eat the star first.
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
I'd like to post some photos of my tank
which has been up and running for about
10 months so I can also share. But my camera sucks!
Well, it doesn't really, it's a great camera,
but not for close up underwater shots evidently.
(sigh) Oh well, some day!
I got an Olympus C765 off of ---- for less than $100. KAT74 posted in her thread that she uses a C740. Since her pictures are so nice, I decided to look for the same camera on ----. I found one, but lost the

[hr]
. Luckily I found my camera and won it for a decent price. Olympus has the C740, C760, C765. You have to find them used because they don't sell them new anymore. The main feature that you want is a macro lense with the highest optical zoom you can find(mine is 10x optical).
 
ewetmill

ewetmill

Member
How long have you had the open brain?
Do you still have the stock lighting?
I've only had the brain a couple of weeks, but everyone I've talked to says that they do fine under PCs. And, yes, I still have the stock lighting. I am seriously considering the 1.150 upgrade, but many other posters on this site have such pretty tanks and corals without the upgrades, so I am at least going to hold off a while. In the meantime I want to get some nice zoos, but all I can find locally are kinda boring ones.
I've been thinking about a red open brain,
but I'm not to sure about the amount of
lighting required to keep it healthy.
I've been told repeatedly that the PCs are fine for soft and LPS corals, which the brains qualify as LPS. They look awesome under the actinics, I only wish pictures would do them justice. If anyone has any tips on how to make these pictures turn out better, I'd love to here them. This is the best I could do:
 
er..md

er..md

Member
They have changed alot aat Moody Gardens...lots of instability...lost a fair number of sharks and a few marine mammals. The original director was a friend of mine and I actually did some consulting work on the south pacific exhibitt...but it was in relation to birds and not the aquarium critters...Still is a pretty nice facility though....I take care of alot their employees in my urgent care clinic...put about 60 stitches in the arm of one of the sea lion trainers after she made a large sea lion mad...
 
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