Pictures, finally

lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Okay, so the camera I used isn't the greatest, so please ignore the quality! LOL. Also, the water isn't hazy, as you can note from a side angled shot. When I got too close to the glass the light would glare, creating the haze effect. Please ignore my diatom bloom, it's finally starting to die out, but is still pesky enough to be seen in the photos!
On another note, I know I don't have nearly enough LR/Base Rock, I'm building it slowly, payday by payday, (I'm also doing major home renovations, kind of puts a hole in the wallet) and I'm not adding any more fish until I have more ample hiding spots! Just thought I'd show you guys what I'm working with so far!

My lowlight mushroom...

Overview, you can see the star polyps in this one, to your left....

My coral beauty came in to say hi! Also, the stars are already starting to throw polyps. See there on the seaflor? It's been pesky picking those guys out, but I plan to keep them well groomed so they don't take over my entire rock formation.

Layla swimming around, more of the unfortunate diatom bloom. If you look close you can see Bach, my peppermint shrimp hanging upside down from the purple rock. Sebastion, his brother, recently molted and is no where to be found. :p Sure he's hiding out until that shell hardens back up.

Better shot of the water clarity.

This one glared pretty badly, making the water look hazy, but I couldn't resist posting it because "Dot", my green chromis is in the left corner.

Last shot, evil evil diatom bloom......
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Our tanks are a work in progress, it looks pretty good so far,...it might help to add another power head.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
I was thinking that myself, Flower. I've noticed the diatom has cleared up immensely in the area that's targeted more by the powerhead. Note last picture on the right side. I'm going to order another one this weekend. I think it keeps the sand filtered enough to keep it from settling. Weird question though, do you think the seaflor I purchased could have silicate in it? If you notice, the rocks are now mostly clear of diatom, the sand bed never had diatom on it..... The only thing that's reamining covered stubbornly in diatom is the seaflor, the bag of shells I purchased to decorate the bottom of the tank with. But would an LFS sell a bag of shells if it contained silicate, particularly for salt tank sea floors?
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
It looks good so far, I keep an eye on those peppermints, mine went crazy. The day they dragged my Ricordea behind a rock, they were evicted.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Thanks Mr. Limpid, will do. Mine show no interest in anything other than cannibalism. LOL. They love frozen shrimp. I've never seen them go after anything else in the tank.
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
I agree with Flower, our tanks don't start out finished (lol) but I think you are off to a good start. It looks pretty good. Defintely need more LR. And don't you just hate that darn diatom bloom.
Those yellow polyps can spread like wild fire. I got some a year or so ago, and had a crab (hitchhiker) that eat all of them but 2 lone polyps. They have grown back to about 40 heads now. If you are looking for some filler corals they do the trick. What is the cool big tall white thing in the middle?? Is it a rock or a decoration.
An additional power head is always a good idea. A lot of flow is always a good thing!!
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Sweatervest, I plan on ordering another powerhead this weekend to help the flow on the left side. It's some sort of fake coral decoration I found at my LFS. I'm not a big fan of putting fake things into my tank (already removed a fake anemone, my clown turned his nose up at it, just as I'd expected......) but I thought that thing was too cool looking to pass up. I hid the kind of cheesy base underneath the sand and behind some rock....It looked like fake seaweed. It's my plan to base the rest of my live rock around hilighting that decoration, basically what I plan to do is use some aquarium safe glue or polyp putty to glue my live rock in a circle shape around it, to where the decoration kind of remains a focal piece. I want the glue as an added security precaution, as trying to acchieve a circle without one would probably be hazardous to my tank glass and my fishes' health. :p To me, without the base sticking up to show the ugly seaweed, you can't really tell whether it's fake or real....I totally agree on the polyps. I think I have too much of a low light to grow anything else aside from some lowlight mushrooms. I've got about four watts per gallon, and it's T9, but it has the white/blue configuration, and also an LED moonlight strip. I'll have to do a serious upgrade if I want any other types of corals. My friends and I call the green/yellow star polyps the dandelion of the ocean, and thus far they are living up to their name! I wanted some kind of life in there to help take away from the somewhat "cold" environment just the LR creates.....Can you think of any more low light corals that may work in this set up?
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by lcaldwell85 http:///t/391116/pictures-finally#post_3467084
Sweatervest, I plan on ordering another powerhead this weekend to help the flow on the left side. It's some sort of fake coral decoration I found at my LFS. I'm not a big fan of putting fake things into my tank (already removed a fake anemone, my clown turned his nose up at it, just as I'd expected......) but I thought that thing was too cool looking to pass up. I hid the kind of cheesy base underneath the sand and behind some rock....It looked like fake seaweed. It's my plan to base the rest of my live rock around hilighting that decoration, basically what I plan to do is use some aquarium safe glue or polyp putty to glue my live rock in a circle shape around it, to where the decoration kind of remains a focal piece. I want the glue as an added security precaution, as trying to acchieve a circle without one would probably be hazardous to my tank glass and my fishes' health. :p To me, without the base sticking up to show the ugly seaweed, you can't really tell whether it's fake or real....I totally agree on the polyps. I think I have too much of a low light to grow anything else aside from some lowlight mushrooms. I've got about four watts per gallon, and it's T9, but it has the white/blue configuration, and also an LED moonlight strip. I'll have to do a serious upgrade if I want any other types of corals. My friends and I call the green/yellow star polyps the dandelion of the ocean, and thus far they are living up to their name! I wanted some kind of life in there to help take away from the somewhat "cold" environment just the LR creates.....Can you think of any more low light corals that may work in this set up?
That's what I was thinking. Surround it with live rock and have it stick out. Should be pretty cool!!
They light you have can work for the low light corals. So it that makes you happy for a while why spend the extra money. You will eventually what to upgrade but that can wait. As for other corals, have you check out any of the Zoa's?? They come in all types of different varieties, and your light should be enough to keep them (you might need to keep them higher up in the tank).
Keep up the good work!!
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Thanks so much for all the kind words! I'll look into the corals once I have my live rock built up a bit more toward the top, until then I'm going to be researching the ones I can add!
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by lcaldwell85 http:///t/391116/pictures-finally#post_3467073
I was thinking that myself, Flower. I've noticed the diatom has cleared up immensely in the area that's targeted more by the powerhead. Note last picture on the right side. I'm going to order another one this weekend. I think it keeps the sand filtered enough to keep it from settling. Weird question though, do you think the seaflor I purchased could have silicate in it? If you notice, the rocks are now mostly clear of diatom, the sand bed never had diatom on it..... The only thing that's reamining covered stubbornly in diatom is the seaflor, the bag of shells I purchased to decorate the bottom of the tank with. But would an LFS sell a bag of shells if it contained silicate, particularly for salt tank sea floors?
Your question is more than my knowledge can help...I have a test for silicates, but never dealt with it. All new tanks go thru weird algae blooms in cycles.
I always got critters to eat whatever popped up, and over time they all balanced each other out. I spent my time all concerned with water quailty and making sure my fish were compatable. I had an awesome reef going once and the heater broke shocking the tank and killing almost everything....after that my nitrate went crazy and by the time I got them under control I had lost interst in a reef tank. I started messing with macroalgae...some macros are beautiful.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Well thank you anyway, Flower. I appreciate the response. I've got several "critters" in my tank too but I think I need to add more! :) I've got twenty one blue legged hermits and I'm guessing between five and seven nassarius snails.. I was thinking of adding maybe three emerald crabs for my CUC as well, in addition to some more hermits. A bristle star may be nice as well.... I've got a couple of those little six legged hitch hiker starfish too, but I don't pay them much attention because they don't seem to pay much attention to anything. LOL. Oh I would hate it if my heater broke once I had some real coral going on in the tank, (I really don't consider what I have now to be anything "challenging"..) I have one on backup right now, but it's just luck that I do. (The first one I purchased was broken, so while I was waiting on it to ship I purchased another. Put the new one in the closet incase anything happens.) I've never looked into macroalgae but it sounds interesting. I may have to do some googling later! Do you have to have the high lighting requirements you do with most corals?
Thank you, Siptang! I'm glad you like the tank! :)
Sweatervest13, I've looked into zoas, and I would like to thank you for causing possibly a new unhealthy obsession!
They're beautiful for lowlight corals.Blue Zoanthids are gorgeous, and then there's the Strawberry Garden Zoas, and Eagle Eye Zoanthids I'm interested in purchasing very shortly.....
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
It looks like I'm kind of by myself in the saltwater hobby around here. LOL. There's not a lot of good sources, or stores in the area. They can get the fish, but as far as telling you how to care for them they are laughable. I was suggested to put a pack of four or five clownfish in my tank at once. LOL. Sure, they keep them at the LFS this way, but only for brief times until they are sold, and only succeed in doing it because they're territorially confused by being with so many. Not to mention their horrible lack of ability at coral care. I traded in two small rocks with star polyp frags for some store credit, and by the next week the polyps looked pitiful.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Bluefield, WV.....
I mean they get decent fish and things, they're just absolute idiots. LOL. Or assume that I am, one or the other (They've stopped giving me so much misinformation since I've started combating them on it.). I kind of think it's one of those shops that as long as they're making a dollar they don't care. My husband and I stared about a month ago gape mouthed as the owner just followed around behind two customers who pointed out a pair of yellow tangs, a powder blue, a mandarin, several clownfish, and a whole pile of damselfish, just dumping them into the bags for the poor guy. I mean to add all of that at once? Even if his tank -is- cycled, and aged... That's creating a huge bioload at once. And the owner never said a word to dissuade him.
The sad thing was, he used the polyps we traded him as part of one of his main displays. I guess it's where he keeps the things he likes, because it says "things in this tank are not for sale" (They were shrivelled and horrible, the next week, like I said...) But not only did he drop the corals straight into the water, he dumped the remaining water from our bucket -into- his display.
Now I know my tank levels are great, and I have no problems in my display... But to see that he didn't even hesitate in doing that leaves a lot to be desired.......
 
S

siptang

Guest
Sorry, for some reason, i thought you were a dude lol.
yea, he doesn't know what he is doing... sucks really. if owners are like that, then what about the employees? geez...
 
S

siptang

Guest
There are idiots every where Rick. You just have to learn how to tune them out.
 
lcaldwell85

lcaldwell85

Member
Speaking of said idiots, Siptang.... LOL.
This weekend they tried to sell me a harlequin sweetlips for my 72gal, told me it was a novice level fish and everything would work out fine. Cute fish, and I almost impulse bought but remembered my other false alarms from the LFS....
Apparently, not only is it a very hard fish to keep, it's only docile as a juvenile. They can eat small fish as they grow.....
Hate my LFS........
 
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