My 10g Pic Diary...

[GroYurOwn]

OK, I know how much everyone on RC loves looking at pics, and I think it would be neat to have an online timeline of how my tank is progressing, so over the next few days i will be updating this thread with pics ad as much detail as i can remember to get it up-to-date on my 10g which was set up in Aug. '05. to stat here it is, junky picture, was taken with a cell phone, later pics will be better. This was about 2 months in, its the earliest pic i could find. at that time i had two maroon clowns, and a velvet damsel, along with an anemone of some kind, and a rock of reddish shrooms.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/147388a457c788047.jpg

stay tuned for more....

[GroYurOwn]

BTW with the exception of about one poundofrubble that i bought from a LFS all of the LR in the tank was taken from a tank i tore down about 1 year ago, dead rock....so it'll be interesting to see this rock come back to life!

[GroYurOwn]

ok, i looked back on it and forget the back stories, i dont have enough time to tell it, and its not very interesting any way. i will post as many pics as i have up to now.

[GroYurOwn]

i helped my friend setup the tank back in august, this was her first SW, but she was limited on space, so we had to go with a 10g. she didnt have enough time to take care of it because her work and school schedules just took too much of her time, so i told her she could bring to my place, and we could do it together. so this is what the tank looked like when i got it.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

we had a serious slime algae problem, and a couple of tufts of hair algae were getting ready to explode. there hadnt been a water change done in at least two months...be easy on her, shes a sweetheart. so we did a 10% water change per day for about four days, using nature's ocean nutri-seawater, which is fantastic stuff BTW. the algae started dissapearing off the rocks, hair and slime, but we still had a problem with the sand.

[GroYurOwn]

btw, we have a 28w coralife aqualite pc for lighting, waiting on delivery of current usa 2x40w orbit fixture today! pics later tonight on that... she had some kind of sand-sifting goby in the tank, cant remember the name of it, but it wasnt doing a very good job, and it didnt make it in the move so we replaced it with one i knew would go to work!

[GroYurOwn]

and here he is...
digger!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/diggersmall.jpg
orange spotted sleeper goby, if you have some sand you want to clean up in a hurry, this is your fish! working on getting him to accept pellets, i've done it before, so i am confident i can again.

[GroYurOwn]

amazing what a few water changes, and a good sand-sifting goby can do to a sand bed. one word of advice though, dont expect your tank water to be crystal clear for about two weeks after putting the goby in. good thing is that all that detritus settles on the rocks, and is in the water column, so what i did what take my rocks out and give them a quick fresh water rinse a couple times a week, got a lot of crud out of the tank that way.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank2.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

ok, so water quality is A+ now, heater was fluctuating a lot, fixed that, thoguht the rock-work was too cluttered, took some out. now the fun stuff. we bought a small green-pimple mushroom colony, that isnt doing very well to date, about two weeks ago. we put in a rock/flower anemone, which is doing fantastic, two very small colonies of zoos, which will not open for the world (hoping that the new light will help with that). and a purple mushroom colony thats doing fantastic, also just got a feather duster last night along with three big fat turbos. and about a week ago a black brittle star that i hardly ever see. so here are some pics...

[GroYurOwn]

how the tank looks right now, sans the feather duster
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank3.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

forgot about the frogspawn we added...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/frogspawn.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

and the hairy mushroom....
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/hairy.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

here's the new feather duster
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/duster.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

my purples
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/purples.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/turbo.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

my successful zoo colony, any advice for zoos out there?
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/zoosmall.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

green hairy shrooms, one of the first inhabitants of the tank.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/greenhairy.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

the purples and greens expand like crazy, but i dont see any reproduction in the greens, so i have started dosing oyster eggs along with the DT's to see if that helps...

[rgasco1]

what kind of camera is that... it/you takes really good pictures.

[thereefmaster]

This is with a sony digi-cam, forgot model (it isn't mine):

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f255/firezone42/DSC00212.jpg

[BlackOnyx]

nice pictures what did you use?

[GroYurOwn]

its a nikon coolpix L1 i think, maybe P1? whichever one is not wi-fi....my friends camera, mine got stolen in new orleans...

[GroYurOwn]

thanks BTW! just got my new 2x40 current-usa orbit fixture in, went home from work to set it up...pics tonight, best 125$ (shipping included)ever spent! it looks awesome!

[rgasco1]

im looking into a camera and want it to take good pics... i have a good one but its like 15 yrs old and uses film. The internal computer thats controls shutter speed is going out... so time for a new DIGITAL camera... thanks for the help. Looks good btw

[MyMonkey]

Very nice 10 Gallon.

[xtrstangx]

Be careful with that clam in your 10g. IMO, you'd be better off with halides, but it may live.

Good luck! Looks good!

[GroYurOwn]

i have had it in their for about six motnhs and its grown about haf inch. just upgraded my lighting though, it'll be just fine i am sure :)

[GroYurOwn]

next big ventur is going to be a dragonet. i am going to set up a little 5 or 10 gal tank dedicated to pods and macro algae, let than establish for a few months with several pieces of LR rubble, each week i will take rubble from the "fuge" and put it in the main, and swap rocks about twice a week....see how it works, notfor a while though, i still have a lot of work to do with this 10

[GroYurOwn]

thanks for all the compliments though guys!

[GroYurOwn]

bump

[GroYurOwn]

got the current-usa orbit 2x40 watt pc fixture today! awesome! 125 shipped from marineandreef.com . the difference is staggering!

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/orbittank.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

before orbit 28x 50/50 pc

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank3.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

3 weeks ago....

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

here is the actual fixture...

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/Img0049.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

my friend-co owner of the tank took some pics, she'll be posting later tonight.

[ReefCheeks]

Zoos under actinics
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/actiniczoos.jpg

Purple pimple mushrooms
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/purples2.jpg

[ReefCheeks]

Here's a video of the moonlights on our tank!
http://www.zippyvideos.com/4067431024221076/img0052/*rdh1079

[ReefCheeks]

bump

[Lures and Jigs]

Great looking tank!

[GroYurOwn]

thanks!

[ReefCheeks]

^

[ReefCheeks]

my newly acquired feather duters crown looks like it is getting shorter and shorter, the ends are curled, everything else in the tank is doing fine....whats up?

[YoungReefer06]

(FroYurOwn)-I am jealous of that feather duster picture you posted on the first page, the one with the purple on it, its awesome.

(ReefCheeks)-I have alot of large feather dusters in my tank and when they start to shrink and curl up they are not doing good, they will shed their crown of feathers and then regrow it, if they are still no feeling good, whatever the reason, they will die.

-Kyle

[YoungReefer06]

GroYurOwn*

[chrismunn]

when i lookd at your thread here, your views of this thread was 420......

[ReefCheeks]

i kinda like "froyurown"...haha...

totally unintentional chrismunn...i promise haha

[ReefCheeks]

yeah, i figured that about the feather duster...i have had one shed its crown and grow back before, i just hope it doesnt come to that...thats what i get for buying from Jacks Aquarium...:(

[ReefCheeks]

BTW, the feather duster reefcheeks is referring into is in my (our) tank...its the one in the picture....

[ReefCheeks]

oops didnt realized i was signed in as reefcheeks!

[JmLee]

alot of zoas dont need intense lighting to open up. I kept a colony under a 10,000k and actinic flourescent lights.

[ReefCheeks]

i have had them at the bottom of the tank and the top and the middle, i just dont understand...

[GroYurOwn]

^

[ReefCheeks]

/

[GroYurOwn]

so i just bought these from reefermadness.us....100 bucks!!! so worth it if they look like these!

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/RMD03100024.jpg

also a cleaner shrimp, and some moon polyps i think...
post pics when i get them!

[GroYurOwn]

got another good shot of my bullseyes.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/bullseyes.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

anyone know what that brownish reddish thing is on the bottom right of the pic?

[ReefCheeks]

bump

[GroYurOwn]

/

[GroYurOwn]

So, we got the new mushrooms (in the picture above) the moon polyps which loook GREAT and the shrimp in today but now our green mushrooms shriveled up and spit all of their intestines out! and our purple mushrooms are all shriveled up they won't expand either, anyone have any idea what could've happened? We're absolutely baffled and we can't think of anything that could have happened, all of our water stats are great..... any ideas would be very helpful!

[GroYurOwn]

^reef cheeks

[GroYurOwn]

here are some pics of what i received from reefermadness, the shrimp i believe has already been consumed by my rock anemone...

moon polyps
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/moons.jpg

gold shrooms, little dissapointed in how they are coloring in my tank, but neat none the less...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/goldshrooms.jpg

cleaner shrimp aka 23$ dinner for 12$ rock anemone...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/shrimp.jpg

and just picked these frags up from marine solutions inc, which is such a cool place to visit...

white shroom
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/whiteshroom.jpg

orange ric
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/orangeric.jpg

button polyp and some random zoo polyps
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/button.jpg

pinks, also some orange skirts on this frag...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/pinkzoos.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/orangeskirts.jpg

greens, taken by reefcheeks!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/greenskirts.jpg

i think thats it for now, not that anyones lookin anyway....

[zimmy1979]

I sure am looking. Beautiful pictures and man do you have a great selection of shrooms. I should check out reefmadness.

[CeeGee]

That white shroom looks like a ricordia that is on it's way to the spiritual world.

I had a yuma that I bought that ended up looking just like that and it eventually dissolved completely.

[GroYurOwn]

its actually a very bright yellow-green, but the camera cant capture the color very well, i tried all kinds of settings, posted my best results. i've seen those in the stores though, wouldnt have bought it if it was bleached.

[GroYurOwn]

BTW thanks zimmy

[GroYurOwn]

must be doing something right. i found a little bud growing on the stalk of the frogspawn! cant get a pic of it, but wanted to document it so i know when it started.

[Electrobes]

I would seriously avoid getting a dragonet in that tank. I can't imagine you having a decent population of copepods unless you 10g was attached to a separate refugium, and a decent sized one at that.

Nice tank though. :)

[pnsnowboard]

got some good looking stuff

[GroYurOwn]

thanks pnsnowboard....i wont have an attached refugium, but i will have a refugium. i used to work at the newport aquarium in newport kentucky. thay had a 1 gallon nano that they kept a madarin in. he had been in there for a little over a year and was fat and happy, they just dumped a small supply of pods in twoce a week, thats what i plan on doing.

[GroYurOwn]

bullseyes ejected their inners again yesterday, so i picked up a hob whisper filter to run carbon through, seems to have solved the problem.

[GroYurOwn]

sad day today, digger, my sleeper goby went carpet surfing...:(

[GroYurOwn]

good news is that reefermadnees rocks! they sent me a follow up email, just to check on how everything went, which is pretty nice! when i told them about the shrimp they said they would put the credit on my account and it could go towards my next order!

[GroYurOwn]

i moved the orange rick to my newest purchase, a rock with a large green ric, and a medium purple ric, i think it looks pretty nice.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/threerics.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

updated full tank shot, painted the back wall black, think it looks a lot better.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/newtank.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

pink zoos and orange skirts attached to them are mia, i think that stupid damsel picked them off the rock i glued them to...

[staticxtreme]

Okay, I have to say I'm impressed by this 10gal tank. But I must have missed it....what equipment do you have on this thing? Lights, Filtration, etc..?

[GroYurOwn]

thanks! i started out with a 28w coralife pc, and a diy 55w pc, nixed the 55w pc, cause i think the ballast was bad and it caused the light to throw out the wrong spectrum. just recently i upgraded to the current usa orbit 2x40w pc. filtration...none, just the LR and LS...recently i added a hob whisper filter to run carbon through. i hvae been very pleased with the tank, most of the time. make sure you look at the beginning of the thread, check out what it looked like about a month and a half ago, its come a looooong way! the camera i use is a nikon coolpix L1

[GroYurOwn]

so i was having a problem, maybe one that a lot of people have with a small tank. there really isnt any place in my tank that could be a "low light" area. my purple shrooms just werent oppening the way they were in the store, so i came up with a VERY inexpensive way to diffuse the light over the area where these shrooms were. my new light came with legs, but that added an additional three inches of space between everything in my tank and the light, i only needed less light on one corner. so i printed a small black square on a piece of paper and cut strips in it, my shrooms are much happier now! here are some pics....

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/diffuser1.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/diffuser2.jpg

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/diffuser3.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

my lataes acquisition! red yuma! cost me 80$ for 2 polyps, i dont think thats a bad deal....

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/redyuma.jpg

got rid of my velvet damsel today, had to rip the tank apart to get ther out (of course) but i needed some new aquascaping anyway, will post a pic as soon as the water clears and everything opens...

[GroYurOwn]

<a href="http://looplets.filmloop.com/link/PLWBFelVyIMuEtTQbS8HbkROUatQEx7v"><img src="http://looplets.filmloop.com/mini/PLWBFelVyIMuEtTQbS8HbkROUatQEx7v.gif" style="border:2"></a>

[GroYurOwn]

that last post is a link to my filmloop, something photobucket started its kinda cool check it out.

[GroYurOwn]

so i evicted my velvet damsel, but not without having to tear everything apart (of course) but change is good right, here's the new scaping

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank03-23.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

new firefish
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/purplefirefish.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

new shot of my red yuma
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/redyuma2.jpg

[staticxtreme]

How frequent are your water changes? Do you just use RO/DI?

[ReefCheeks]

1 gallon water change once per week, i top off with regular tap water. i use nutri-seawater for my water changes. thats the natural filtered seawater you can by in 2.2 or 4.4 gallon jugs, nice and simple, no salt mixing, and it already has trace minerals in it. yes i said i top off with regular tap water.....;)

[ReefCheeks]

BTW me and groyurown share the tank, in case youre confused as to why i answered your question!

[ReefCheeks]

static what is a MSPS?

[ReefCheeks]

MGSP*

[ReefCheeks]

also we feed dt's and oyster eggs twice per week. dt's mainly for the clam, and the feather duster, started feeding oyster eggs a couple weeks ago, dont know if i see a difference yet

[ReefCheeks]

are the pics on your site current?

[staticxtreme]

No, the pics are a little old, I just took some recent pics however just havn't posted them yet. The MGSP as told to me by the LFS, are Metallic Green Star Polyps, they don't carry the heavy green of the GSP's it's more of a lighter green. I dunno, I should post pics and get the low down, maybe I'll do that later, possibly this weekend. For a fuge I modified a Hangon Filiter I picked up @ a lfs for 10 bucks, and use a 15gal rubbermaid for a sump, filled it up with LR and threw a blue filter pad in there along with the skimmer. SEems to be working out really well now. I also supplement Oceans Blend from Premium Aquatics and noticed a dramatic difference soon after with coraline growth, and more color and expansion of my corals.

[ReefCheeks]

whats the filter pad for?

[staticxtreme]

Just to catch anything that shouldn't be in the water.

[ReefCheeks]

you put a lot of thought and planning into those avatars!
heres the latest pic of the ricordias, soon to be joined by a fabulous yuma i just bought off ebay...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/stacyric2.jpg

[ReefCheeks]

here's my biggest blue/purple mushroom
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/bigpurple.jpg

[ReefCheeks]

my feather duster has grown its crown back and looks great!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/dusterreborn.jpg

[staticxtreme]

Yeah I love my avatars.....anyway, I just updated my website so you can see what I have going on, it's not as impressive as yours by far but I have been on a minimal budget. But check it out....I've been looking at a lot of the smaller tank set-ups and thinking about starting my own, I just saw a 15 gallon acryillic Dwarf SeaHorse set-up I was blown away by so who knows.

[ReefCheeks]

looks a lot better! i think that the camera probably doesnt do the tank justice! if you painted your back wall black it would bring the colors in your corals out a lot! those red skirt zoos you have are amazing.

[ReefCheeks]

/

[staticxtreme]

Nah, I think it can take better pics I'm just not 100% on the tweaking of it. But thanks I took a lot of rock out yesterday, and am contemplating putting it back in.....I dunno, looks a little bare.

[GroYurOwn]

what i learned is that more isnt always better, we took a bunch out of the 10g, then just did some really cool caves and stuff with what was left. good thing is it leaves more room for stuff you might want to buy.

[GroYurOwn]

newest ric! paid way too much, but oh well...
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/newric.jpg

full shot
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/newricfull.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

new bicolor blenny
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/bicolor.jpg

[GroYurOwn]

^

[GroYurOwn]

im losing my colony of purple mushrooms, they are just melting away one by one...my hairy mushroom split, but then melted away, then my gold mushrooms melted away, now my beautiful purples, i dont know what to do....everything else in the tank is fine, no ammonia in the tank, each mushroom that dies has been taken out....i have done three water changes in three days...i am at a loss. :(

[staticxtreme]

Uh oh, are there any levels you are not checking?

[GroYurOwn]

nitrite and nitrate, cause my test kits froze, but everything, clams, fish, corals, starfish, xenia, are doing fine, even other mushrooms on the other side of the tank, its just in one little corner, i took the rocks out to see if something had died under it, but no luck!

[staticxtreme]

I'd ask around on the forum, they are usally pretty good about getting responces.

[GroYurOwn]

wow, got a lot of new stuff...the die-off of the blue shrooms seems to have subsided, final body count is about 80% of the blue colony, one hairy shroom, and the entire colony of very expensive gold mushrooms i got from reefermadness, i am still confused by what happened, but theremaining shrooms seema to be happy, as well as everything else. pics to come of the new additions, two new small zoo colonies, and i finally found a red serpent star in my LFS, i can never find these things! from the tip of one arm to the tip of the one across from it i think it is about one foot! seems huge for my 10g, but it doesnt move much. will post pics soon, i am receiving my new nikon d70 tomorrow, so i am sure i will be snapping planty of pics!

[MyMonkey]

Great pics. Great idea on that difuser.

[GroYurOwn]

thanks monkey. the problem with the diffuser is that the humidity makes the paper curl. so what i did instead was put a piece of clear shipping tape over the inside of the splash guard and drew black blocks on it with a permanent marker, seemed to work, when i dont need it anymore i peel the tape off.

[GroYurOwn]

so that awesome red serpent star i just paid way too much for has now lost one leg, and isnt looking too good....WHY?! this is the kind of crap that just makes you want to get out of this freakin hobby....

[air_doc28]

can u tell me your specs? especially water flow and circulation. are you planning on any sps or acros?

[ewaldm]

Probably a problem with acclimation. IME all inverts are very sensitive and aquire a long acclimation process. Also-not sure how you top of the tank, but they don't do well with changes in salinity, which is pretty easy with a 10g tank.

[air_doc28]

can u tell me your specs? especially water flow and circulation. are you planning on any sps or acros?

[GroYurOwn]

salinty .024, water flow i have one hagen powerhead in an upper right corner facing front, one in lower left going across the back, that one has not worked for the last 2 weeks, but tank still does fine. no skimmer. not sure what my calcium levels are, dont have a test kit, i does half cap sea chem reef complete every three days, my clam is growing fast, coraline is explodintg, and my frogspawn has formed two "buds", so i am guessing i am in the ball park. ammonia 0 nitrite, -trate 0, and negligible (respectively). temp 74-76.

now, as for the acclimation, i drip acclimate everything, both shroom rocks were in the tank and doing spectacularly for weeks, so i dont think it has anything to do with acclimation. i top off usually twice a day, whenever i see the slightest drop in water level, my light has a very powerful fan, so it doesnt give off much heat, so evap is minimal, so salinity has been stable. the mystery here is that mushrooms are usually one of the hardiest critters in the tank, but in this case ONLY they were effected....

[GroYurOwn]

here is an updated full tank shot, taken today. we are so pleased with the progress of this tank!

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/updatedtank.jpg

this was about four months ago!:

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/tank.jpg

here is one of our newest additions.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/Img0738.jpg

[staticxtreme]

Still looks sweet....What a 10g!

[GroYurOwn]

thanks man! here are some new buys!
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/DSCN0094.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/DSCN0089.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/tank%20thread/DSCN0097.jpg
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f284/rdh1079/mysterylps.jpg