Christmas! AKA shipment 2

[wintercool97]

Richard promised Christmas and boy was he ever right! Thank you Reefclause! He was very nice this year ;)

I got shipment 2 in last night, stayed up until midnight getting everyone settled in. This morning 3 of the anemones, moved around, I found all but one, he must be hiding in the back somewhere, I'm sure I will see him soon. So here are some pictures hope you enjoy as much as I do!

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment29thofOCT07fulltank.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment29thofOCT07leftside.jpg

I love this rock on top has SO much on it, I will get a better pic tomarrow
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment29thofOCT07rightside.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment2sideview.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment2AN.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment29thofOCT07055.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment29thofOCT07059.jpg

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/rockshipment29thofOCT07056.jpg

[tangafish]

good job on the aquascaping. looks like you got lots of extra goodies. i love the purple sea fan that is awesome. i know you will love your tbs just as much as the rest of us. I have no doubt not if, but when, i do my next tank i will be ordering from richard again. i wouldn't even consider going elsewhere. cant ask for a better business or person to work with.

[Elorian]

Now I *really* can't wait to get part 2... :)

Beautiful tank, BTW- very nicely aquascaped.

[wintercool97]

tangafish- I know just what you mean, I don't think I would ever get rock anywhere else again. Oh I love the purple sea fan too, I'm still trying to find a place that it will stay planted, I have quite a lot of flow and its hard to keep everyone where I want them :)

Elorian- Thank you the aquascaping is hard when you want to show off all the neat stuff on the rocks. I can honestly say I think waiting for part 2 is the hardest thing about TBS rock!

[tangafish]

you can either tuck the gorgonians and sea fans in between some rocks, use gel superglue and attach them to either your live rock directly or i like to use some rock rubble just heavy enough to really anchor it when the flow hit it or last but not least just bury it a little in the substrate and everything will be happy and healthy.

i got part 2 of mine MONTHS ago and i am still tweaking the layout and rearranging. we dont need no doze to stay awake -we have tbs!:lol:

[wintercool97]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10954285#post10954285 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tangafish
you can either tuck the gorgonians and sea fans in between some rocks, use gel superglue and attach them to either your live rock directly or i like to use some rock rubble just heavy enough to really anchor it when the flow hit it or last but not least just bury it a little in the substrate and everything will be happy and healthy.

i got part 2 of mine MONTHS ago and i am still tweaking the layout and rearranging. we dont need no doze to stay awake -we have tbs!:lol:


Thanks for the help on this, I can't believe I didn't think of gluing them to rubble that would work perfectly.

I have stayed up until one in the morning each night since I got the part 2 in. Just to much to look at! :bigeyes:

[tangafish]

be careful not to expose the gorgonians or sponges to air. i just did it with them upside down in the tank with just enough of the base out of the water, dry it off the best you can, glue and attach..word of advise put some gloves on because since it is upside down you cant really see what you are doing or where the glue is so could be a sticky situation. :lol:

[Origami2547]

Hey Wintercool, nice job! Up after midnight, eh? Sounds real familiar....

Isn't it a blast getting Part 2 and setting up everything? I've been adding livestock to my tank in the last few weeks and will be adding some corals (from a local aquarist here) this weekend.

I did have to do a manual harvest of some caulerpa algae yesterday. It was liking the new environment a little too much. I've added a yellow tang, hoping he'd graze on the stuff but he doesn't seem to be paying much attention yet. I'll wait another week or so and, if he's still not grazing on it, I may have to add a lawnmower blenny or something to help keep it under control.

Otherwise, I'm finding new stuff every day. Crabs (including one larger-than-I'd-like gorilla crab, which I'm going to have to find a way to get out), new feather dusters, all kinds of stuff....

You've done a great job with aquascaping, too. Thanks for putting up the pix!

[wintercool97]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10962117#post10962117 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Origami2547
Hey Wintercool, nice job! Up after midnight, eh? Sounds real familiar....

Isn't it a blast getting Part 2 and setting up everything? I've been adding livestock to my tank in the last few weeks and will be adding some corals (from a local aquarist here) this weekend.
Yes its tons of fun! I have a few of the bad Cirolanid Isopod in there, Richard sent me a little blennie and after I put him in 3 jumped on him in broad day light! So I have netted out 4 and have been setting traps but haven't caught any that way. I wonder if the kind I have is the fish only ones. I am going to try and starve them out for a couple months.


I did have to do a manual harvest of some caulerpa algae yesterday. It was liking the new environment a little too much. I've added a yellow tang, hoping he'd graze on the stuff but he doesn't seem to be paying much attention yet. I'll wait another week or so and, if he's still not grazing on it, I may have to add a lawnmower blenny or something to help keep it under control.

Otherwise, I'm finding new stuff every day. Crabs (including one larger-than-I'd-like gorilla crab, which I'm going to have to find a way to get out), new feather dusters, all kinds of stuff....

You've done a great job with aquascaping, too. Thanks for
putting up the pix!

Let me know what you find to eat the macro, mine is doing VERY well too;)

I found this big gorilla in the box thank heavens he didn't get in the tank, he is like silver dollar size! Its hard to get them out if they are dug in the sand under a rock. I tried the shrimp in a cup but didn't get anything, I haven't tried again in a new spot yet I have a few that I need to get out still.

Thanks for the complement on the aquascaping, I didn't feel like I knew what I was doing but I guess that's alright:lol:

[Origami2547]

Hi Wintercool,
Both my yellow tang and my coral beauty graze on the caulerpa mexicana. I'm hoping that, between the two, they can keep it under control. I did a pretty significant manual harvest the other day, added a sump with a refugium, and stocked the refugium with chaeto macroalgae to help with the nutrient uptake. All told, this should (cross my fingers) moderate the greenery!

[wintercool97]

I have a refug. with some chaeto in it too. I know its helping, but the mexicana is still doing pretty well. I just don't know what to do about fish, I had some of the bad Isopods that I netted out and haven't seen any since. I've read others here on TBS just went ahead and put in fish and didn't seem to have any bad problems. So I am trying to decide if I should add some fish soon or not. We'll see how impatient I become.:D

[Origami2547]

I've not seen any isopods in my tank. Fish are doing well, though.

My caulerpa went pretty wild, covering a lot more rock and getting my attention. I had to do a pretty large manual harvest at first. Having a wooden shish-kabob skewer in hand helped to separate it from the rock so I could peel it off. I probably removed 60-70% of it this way. Then, I added the yellow tang and the coral beauty (remember, not all tangs are herbivores but the yellow tang is). The yellow tang prefers the red macroalgae but, after a few days, added the caulerpa to it's diet. Now, my caulerpa looks like it's being mowed.

In addition, I added the chaeto and, still having phosphates higher than I'd like (I was at 0.2 - 0.5 ppm and would like it below 0.03 ppm for the corals I'm adding), I added a sock of Seachem PhosGuard to the sump over the weekend to get the phosphates down.

I'm also upgrading my skimmer (this IS an expensive hobby!) later this week to an Aqua Medic Turboflotor 1000 Multi SL. Thankfully, my wife really likes the tank and wants me to start another on the main level of the house (!!!). Maybe soon, but not right away... I'm going to get this one settled first.

[wintercool97]

Oh yes this is expensive hobby, I don't think I have even spent this much on my car! :lol:

Just a little update, I have three pistols that I have seen. One is small maybe under 1/2 inch, the other 2 are bigger about an inch long. one is white with red claws he came in shipment one, the other is read with green claws. You wouldn't believe the clicking at night! Sorry no pics they move FAST! Here are a few other pictures,

Kind of a side view I get a glare from my window in the day this is the only angle with out it.
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/tankOct20.jpg


Great little hitchhiker.
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/tankOct20matrix.jpg

Yellow sponge stuff. Seems to be creeping up anyone know its name?
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc304/wintercool97/tankOct20yellow.jpg

[JuzDuky]

Wow, wintercool. Your tank really looks nice! I can see how much it has grown since the first pics you posted above.

[wintercool97]

Thanks! It has grown it just amazes me how it looks so mature so fast!

[tangafish]

WOW thanks for the update your tank looks great, everything sure has grown. i got lucky on mine I guess i have 4 fish in my tank and no isopods in sight.