A Pic A Day Keeps The Reefers At Bay!

[PhaneSoul]

Hello. doing well i hope!
Ill be posting pictures here & short dialogs of different things everyday/otherday/few days as life permits. Everybody loves pictures, so why not? its also to see how things come along. one can never have too many pictures.

anyone can post as well, full tank shots, critter shots, changes in setups, it doesn't matter :) join in on the fun!

[PhaneSoul]

Welp, another day, another pic!
I just got done dunking, swishing, dunking and swishing a bunch of rock that im cooking. I have acquired more rock then I really thought. I do know I have enough to redo my bridege structure and probably enough to do my large stack that wont fit in the 55g, but will make a perfect piece for the 75/90g. for the cooking process I have a powerhead and that's about it. I don't have an extra heater for it and im using waste water change water. it should still work, probably at a slower pace but since my tanks have low phosphates anyways it should be okay, ill pick up a heater at some point in time.

The 55g continues to do well as far as the algae glass haze goes. I noticed last night, I turned off the return pump, fed, the water level in the display was lowered for a few hours and when I turned the pump on again there was a fine line of green and no green. I tested the glass before hand so I know there was no green before I shut off the pump, which means within a matter of just 2-3 hours algae used the new available nutrients from the food I fed and grew on the glass. amazing. it wasn't a lot of algae though, maybe 4 6x3 trapazoids worth, right at the top where the lights on the glass are the most intense. stuff to think about.

VV he just got done shoving food in his mouth
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/5F35AD4E-F17B-494F-8658-2A700DEFA51E.jpg
I also witnessed my neon green frogspawn shoving a pea sized piece of meat in his mouth tonight too. I have never caught this before so im a lot happier now :)

All the fishies at feeding time, except the yellow watchman goby, I goto him, he doesn't come to me.
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/7EBE1A06-DEF4-4361-86CC-EA6F35AC0D99.jpg

And the 10g. as you can see most of the coralline is still dying/dead. it looks like some vermitid snails and spiroribid worms did make it. but they are not nearly as prominent. ill keep tabs on them and manually remove them during waterchanges from now on. any algae is turning white however. & mojano anemones did survive well.

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/2A301D00-0F09-4F5B-9734-A7D4CC9D729C.jpg

Until tomorrow! my hammerhead looked lovely today so I think he will be pictured tomorrow. Enjoy your day!

[PhaneSoul]

Here we are again. i gave all my filter socks to my buddy. he is in despair about his tank again saying it needs a cleaning and such and was so amazed at how clean my tank is. i showed him how to siphon his sand and suggested he should drop down to a shallow sandbed then proceeded to show him how i can siphon my sandbed in a matter of 10-15 minutes. he seemed a little more on board after that. i hope he makes the right decisions.

Anyways. here is my 3 head of hammerhead (small in focus of cam, older one at the top and 3rd head not in picture, all 3 heads are very close to eachother) lookin all good and stuff. he is really enjoying things, i really haven't seen him this happy in a long time. i am really liking the layout i have planned for this rock too. a torch, hammerhead with 3 types of zoa's to grow around them then there will be a red montipora on the backside of the rock and a neon green montipora spongodes for the front top. all grown in it should look pretty awesome :) as soon as the zoa's start growing -.- they are really the only things that don't grow in my tank. i might break down and feed commercially prepared food for them if i don't see anything in a few months..

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/C5496D11-3631-4F62-8DF5-7C129AE940F7.jpg

And here is a single zoa head, recently cured of zoa pox but still recovering.
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/DBBB1C4B-6101-439A-97FA-C40233484072.jpg

[OrQidz]

I like the hammer! looks good. I bet your lone zoa will start to replicate itself soon and you will have more :)

[PhaneSoul]

Thanks, and I hope so. Ive been trying when I think about it and have free time to find some good research on how zoa's eat and absorb nutrients, so far I haven't found a lot of information

[PhaneSoul]

Happy Friday!
Ive lured out one of my favorite guys. Actually everything i have is my favorite. My Serpent sea star. he spans about 4-5in across and apparently my Melanurus isn't afraid of him.
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/7C35EB3C-7A33-4B53-9022-65E58CF5F49D.jpg
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/E0DDA2B4-587E-48C7-9FD7-FD9876D77E55.jpg

And in the 10g, frag row, with the elusive thermomecoral, he was a very good find and even his looks benefit any system

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/DF298C01-07AB-4DEA-B7DD-8494CB54BB43.jpg

Until another day! Enjoy yours!

[PhaneSoul]

Here are a bunch of pics, some even feature the back side! Sorry about the dirty glass, Enjoy!

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150525_222419.jpg
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[PhaneSoul]

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150525_232223.jpg
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[PhaneSoul]

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150525_233109.jpg
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[PhaneSoul]

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150522_010101.jpg

Montipora spognodes
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150523_233937.jpg

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150519_223008.jpg
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150517_230822_1.jpg

Thats all for now

[PhaneSoul]

Okay, one more for good luck.

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150526_005528.jpg

[CStrickland]

Looking good, specially the frogspawn and the eternal sponge!
Time for sun coral.

Needs more General :)

[PhaneSoul]

Thanks. yesterday I looked under the rock its up against, the sponge goes under the rock like another inch... beautiful lookin sponge, when do you want me to send you a piece :p the sponge is literally bigger then a dish scrubber sponge lol, I feel like I could use it to wash myself with. I picked this guy up today :) my brother got it for me for my bday. Rainbow bubble tip anemone.

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20150601_235017.jpg

the best thing is I picked that spot out taking into consideration he needed to adjust to the light, the flow was perfect, its the 'center piece' spot, I love the way my epoxied rocks look and that's where I would've wanted him anyways. I put him there after a nice acclimation period, he was attached to a piece of dead montipora, he moved up the rock a little bit, just far enough to get off the dead montipora, I grabbed the dead coral skeleton out, he pooped and then moved right back into the spot. looks like I may have picked a perfect spot :) hopefully my clowns find him and he hosts the clowns, that would be great.

[PhaneSoul]

Here is an update 6 months later! I moved 3 months ago, the sandbed was removed 3 months ago, my ro/di was out for 2 months, i have a different rbta and my yellow watchman goby committed suicide last week... , ill miss him, ill post some closeups of my euyphilla later.

Enjoy!


http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_185612.jpg
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[PhaneSoul]

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_183119.jpg
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[PhaneSoul]

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_183513.jpg
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[PhaneSoul]

Center of the colony started stn'ing on my montipora from the high phosphates, i tore out the center and this guy has been growing faster and coloring up since i have been working on lowering the nutrient level in the tank.


http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_201014.jpg

This guy went from a head and a baby head to 11 heads with 7 of them being babies



http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_201035.jpg

4 heads on this, started as one, a baby grew and both split
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_200939.jpg


Four baby heads comin in on this guy and the main split into 3
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_200923.jpg



http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20151020_200954.jpg

[PhaneSoul]

What do you guys think about a linckia star fish in a system like this?

[CStrickland]

Looking good phane!
I wouldn't bother with a linckia. You move stuff around to much and they are inflexible

[PhaneSoul]

Thanks!
After the 75 gets setup it will be done :) really since the move i havent done anything to the system besides weekly waterchanges. I wasnt gonna get one asap, it would be a last addition probably about a year after everything is transferred to the 75g and im sure its stable.

Then im gonna buy the house i moved into (renting now) and tear out the breakfast bar and instal a 300g thats viewable from the kitchen and dinning room ;) but thats got a few years.

[Ron Reefman]

These are in my 65g shallow reef tank (4'x2'x14").

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/RonReefman/neon%20rock%20flowers%202_zpsdhenc3p3.jpg (http://s395.photobucket.com/user/RonReefman/media/neon%20rock%20flowers%202_zpsdhenc3p3.jpg.html)


These are in my 180g sps/lps tank.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/RonReefman/cucumber_zpsunwc1opv.jpg (http://s395.photobucket.com/user/RonReefman/media/cucumber_zpsunwc1opv.jpg.html)

The anemones, sea cucumber, gorgonian and the clam it's attached to are all from the Florida Keys or the Gulf of Mexico. The Gorgonian attached to the clam was 'rescued' off the beach after a cold front (kind of rare in SW Florida) passed through and created some big waves. It's been in my tank now since November 2014.

[PhaneSoul]

Very nice! And colorful too. I like colorful stuff like that

[pilot.darren]

nice pics

[CStrickland]

Wait, never mind what I said. You can get one of these echinasters http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+528+581&pcatid=581
and let me know how that goes b/c I want one but not if they are hard to keep and I don't want to have to kill it to find out but there's not really a lot of info on them like there is for linckias and such

[PhaneSoul]

Ooh, pretty but warnings include might be harmful to nems and other stuff :( i like the blue guy better though.

[CStrickland]

IDC I bought it!
Arrives Wednesday :D

I'll just add it to the list of critters I chase off my other critters. The urchin is on my last nerve with eating my zoa cause they are in a little patch of coraline, but I need him cause the melanurus eats the face off every snail she can get to so I'm low on cleaners. Yay circle of life!

[PhaneSoul]

Really? I dont have an issue with my melanurus and snails. Ive had the same two turbos for like a year and i just added 3 more. I think i spoiled him with blender mush, he didnt even go after my coral banded shrimp. Let me know how he does! Im set on the linckia, its easier to get orange corals then it is blue so a linckia will tie in the blue quite nicely. Considering i have a algae issue i may get one soon, it only makes sense instead of stocking up on snails.

[PhaneSoul]

Here is an update, ive come a long way in a year. Went bb about 8 months ago alonv with sumpless. Whats in the fts is what i have as a system, planning a 6ft upgrade around the end of summer. Alot of corals are less then a year old, a handful a few weeks but i do still have most of the old corals. Ive lost a few zoa colonies, the sponge and thats about it, traded or sold a few, overall my coral survivability is probably in the 95% range, not bad imo for a noobie. Fish are a bit different, in the low 70% survivability, 90% if you dont count anything that died within a week. This month marks the beginning of my 3rd year of reefkeeping and 2nd year of the 55g

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20160515_163859.jpg
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http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20160515_164909.jpg

Enjoy!

[PhaneSoul]

Sorry, the 55g isnt 2 years old, its cycle was started in late july of 14', i had a 10g for the first several months of reefkeeping, and all on a pennies and nickles budget.

[CStrickland]

:thumbsup:
Nice growth but your photo levels aren't right. The way you have it the corals look dope but the background is way oversaturated. Everybody knows to look at the sand, or some white eggcrate in the pic, when they buy frags off eBay because if those look purple they're overstating the vibrancy of their coral. You're doing it to make the corals look accurate, but it comes off like fudging. have you tried playing with the white balance, or turning off the blues for your photosessions?

PS I think your survival rates are pretty close to normal, when reefers are honest about their losses.
Is that a clam? How has that been going?

PPS the starfish up-thread was a mislabeled linckia. Stupid liveaquaria. One never really acclimated, the other did pretty well. Then one day I was screwing with my pumps and he got a face full of microbubbles. All his skin fell off overnight and that was the end of that.

[PhaneSoul]

Well unfortunately even the best phones suck at taking good pictures of things how we see them, the lighting on our tanks really messes with em. I can say the corals look very close to how their viewed by the naked eye, unfortunately to get this you have to adjust the white balance, iso, capture speed and basically every setting including metering. I could do the exact opposite, make the backgrounds look true but then the corals would look nothing like they really do. Its not a one setting fits all, once you tune the camera into lets say for instance a green coral, then taking pictures of other green corals wouldnt be so diffucult but once you switch to a coral with different colors you have to go back and mess with all the settings once more and if your taking pictures with a coral thats got multiple colors, well good luck trying to get that to look good. And all the recent pics were with blue only lights which make it 10x more difficult to capture. This weekend ill do another photoshoot with the white lights.

Ever ask people to take photos with white lights only? They probably wont, it shows the real health of the tank.

I just got the clam 2 weeks ago we was good in a spot i picked out for him for a week but a few days ago he decided he didnt like it and im having a tough time getting him into another good position.

Sucks about the starfish, its crazy how some are sooo delicate yet i let all the kids and my friends hold my serpent star and he is just fine.

[PhaneSoul]

Two and a half years in and i havent lost much and have grown alot more! My worst area is shrimp and nems, best is really any coral besides zoas. I blame my lights, very crude diy leds. I just revamped them and they only run at 20% and do waay better then my old ones (same drivers and heatsinks) at 100%!!

Here are some pics of my progression!

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20160919_170148.jpg
http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/dd520/PhaneSoul/20160914_135842.jpg
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