Finally put my tank together...

[KoNP]

i've got the api test kits for all of those already and i know they work, largely because i tested them with water i knew would register varying amounts of most of the testables.

I don't have a weekend free to do that for a while, and an afternoon after work is entirely out of the question - i'm too tired and frustrated after work and all i want to do is offline a bit. Thanks for the offer though. I'm gonna let the tank do it's thing for another week or so even though i desperately want to replace those clowns. My girlfriend was even more upset than i was - we'd named them and spent ages watching them play, after all.

 

[tmd77]

even still its always handy to get another opinion so i do advise that you take it down to a LFS and get them to test it. better to be safe than sorry.

i had clowns in my tank and personally wont get them again until i get my 4x2x2 up and running. they get spooked at night easily in a small environment so unfortunately they do have a tendancy to jump. only way i would have them in a small tank is if i made a hood for them. other option is to grab some egg crate to put over the top of the tank.

can be a painful hobby, but in the end it will be all worth it.

good luck mate

 

[KoNP]

even still its always handy to get another opinion so i do advise that you take it down to a LFS and get them to test it. better to be safe than sorry.

i had clowns in my tank and personally wont get them again until i get my 4x2x2 up and running. they get spooked at night easily in a small environment so unfortunately they do have a tendancy to jump. only way i would have them in a small tank is if i made a hood for them. other option is to grab some egg crate to put over the top of the tank.

can be a painful hobby, but in the end it will be all worth it.

good luck mate

Thanks. I do appreciate the advice, btw. I can always put the glass plate lids on the tank to close it in, but I'm afraid of making the temperature go up too far. Might do that if the weather cools off a bit. It'd help keep the water warm in the cooler months, at least.

 

[TimSchmidt]

It's definitely nice to get together with a fellow reefer or three once in a while to at least sit back and chat fish.

 

[KoNP]

It's definitely nice to get together with a fellow reefer or three once in a while to at least sit back and chat fish.

Indeed.

Things seem much more stable now - the red crap is no longer on the sand, the snails are ok, the blenny is ok and the ricordea is fine. My order from Guppy's still hasn't arrived, I'm starting to get seriously concerned. I only live an hour away from their office, there's no way a courier could take a week to get it from there to here.

 

[TimSchmidt]

Sometimes things happen. It will just depend on what the company does to correct the issue. That's why I choose to sometimes pay a bit more for a more popular brand name just in case life happens, their reputation is on the line and they generally stand behind their product.

 

[KoNP]

Sometimes things happen. It will just depend on what the company does to correct the issue. That's why I choose to sometimes pay a bit more for a more popular brand name just in case life happens, their reputation is on the line and they generally stand behind their product.

Turns out the courier company were a bunch of cocks and didn't leave a calling card when they "attempted to deliver" the package 2 days after I ordered it. That's a pretty common thing here in Australia - delivery drivers too fat and lazy to actually deliver packages - they think driving past the house suffices and half the time won't even drop a slip to show they made an appearance.

Rang them thismorning, it was delivered about 2 and a half hours later. Got the lights all hooked up and turned on - WOW. The tank looks spectacular under a combined total of 96 watts of lighting - 2x actinic blue, 1x 10000K and 1x Fiji Purple. I don't think there's going to be any problems regarding lack of light, heh. I will have to keep an eye on it though, the lights are only a few inches above the surface of the water - I'm hoping they don't trap too much heat. If so I'll invest in a small fan for it.

 

[drnsee]

Kewl! Must look nice...what's Fiji purple? Sorry I missed how many gallons your tank was. You must have really intense looking light over it though. Can't wait to see a pic!

As for delivering things, my courier just sits it by the door and leaves it. I think I'm lucky, it's still sitting there when I come home, lol. Although my main door is off to the side of the house I guess.

 

[tmd77]

hows the fiji purple going bringing out the red colouration?

 

[KoNP]

hows the fiji purple going bringing out the red colouration?

Really nice, I'm amazed at how bright the tank is now too - and I thought it was before hahaha.

Did a complete test of the tank water tonight after a 4 liter change (roughly 15%) and the results were very good IMHO.

The colours are a little off again, the dKH turned green by the time I went to take the photo and the pH looks off but the values are as they were to the naked eye. I'm quite pleased at the 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite, and the relatively low nitrate. The sand is also free of slime and diatoms. Sadly another trochus snail died (one died the other day, he fell on his "back" and couldn't right himself and drowned before I could get to him), I'm guessing due to the stress of the tank cycling again. Ricordea looks stressed but he's still in one piece, zoas are peeking but not fully coming out at the moment. Some have died but most are alive.

Given those values, and given that the tank FINALLY seems to have settled, I am interested in trying to restock it again. Now, this time I'll run my possible purchases past you guys. I want to get a small green frogspawn I saw at one of the local marine stores, I also want to get another ricordea (probably either express posted from Aus Frags, or from Qld Coral Creations) and I'm looking at a fungia/heliofungia. Also would like to try an elegance again as they are just so damned pretty.

What would you all advise/recommend for corals to get things going again, hopefully in the right direction?

 

[funkngroovy]

Maybe you should go for some mushrooms or xenia for a start.

LPS corals such as frogspawn are fairly adaptable but need very stable conditions when they are moved. eg from the LFS to your tank.

They are also more likely to foul your tank if they decide to go belly up.

You might also want to have a look at a toadstool leather.


a quick reference site is www.asira.org

 

[KoNP]

Maybe you should go for some mushrooms or xenia for a start.

LPS corals such as frogspawn are fairly adaptable but need very stable conditions when they are moved. eg from the LFS to your tank.

They are also more likely to foul your tank if they decide to go belly up.

You might also want to have a look at a toadstool leather.


a quick reference site is www.asira.org

That's some good advice, I'll take that under consideration and modify my choices thusly

I wanted a blue pulsing xenia but was told they're insanely sensetive to temperature and I should avoid them unless I have a chiller. Which I don't. Mushrooms are good, as long as I can find something that looks decent, there were some purple 'morphs at pet city, might pick up some of them. Also, Ricordea are a corallimorph, correct? A few more of those can't hurt.

Toadstool leather? I shall look into that also. I'll wait for the tank to stabilise before getting anything terribly delicate. I am interested in getting a small tubastrea frag from nielsen's, but that will involve a bit of work and a much more stable tank.

Oh also, I'm soonishly going to be investing in a much, much larger tank. I've priced one up, along with a chiller, external filter, and some other bits and bobs. It's going to go together slowly due to the expense but yeah. I want a large tank.

First I'll get this small one right though

 

[TimSchmidt]

I think rics are tougher than nails! Soft corals (like leathers) are great and pretty resistant, but some have had issues combining any stoney corals with softies. (not everyone)

 

[KoNP]

Minor update.

So the tank is much more settled, the original ricordea I had is still alive, he's starting to inflate his little nodules more and more every day which is good. The tank is unfortunately having a resurgence of the algae issue, not terribly surprising given what happened. I took the plunge and ordered a small RO unit from Guppy's, bought 20L of NSW from nielsen's to tide me over til then.

Here is a pic of a small ricordea I picked up for $20 from QLD Coral Creations:

They had some gorgeous large ones there, ranging from $100 to $400, but I didn't see the need to get one as this little guy had awesome red and green colouring.

When the tank has stopped looking embarassingly green I'll post more full tank pics. I moved the two actinic tubes to one fitting and the 10000K/purple to the other, that way I can simulated dimming light better before switching them all off. This photo was taken under nothing but actinics, with the white balance manually set to filter out the blue, so the red and green of the ric came out.

 

[tmd77]

nice work konp... heath really does have some great stuff doesnt he!!!!

did you see the fluro orange ric there as well? would love to grab that, but cant fathom $100 (however may be convinced as time goes on)

 

[KoNP]

nice work konp... heath really does have some great stuff doesnt he!!!!

did you see the fluro orange ric there as well? would love to grab that, but cant fathom $100 (however may be convinced as time goes on)

Yep. And the peach-coloured one in the display tank at the front, a bargain at $400

I'm probably going to stock up on a few cheapo rics and maybe one $50 or $60 specimen. There's plenty of interesting colours at the cheap end; I'll save the mega-expensive ones for when I get a big tank.

 

[drnsee]

Yep. And the peach-coloured one in the display tank at the front, a bargain at $400

I'm probably going to stock up on a few cheapo rics and maybe one $50 or $60 specimen. There's plenty of interesting colours at the cheap end; I'll save the mega-expensive ones for when I get a big tank.

Goodness and I was beaching about paying $20 for a polyp. I don't think I can even find polyps for over $30 at any of my 7 LFS! lol.

 

[TimSchmidt]

Nice add! Time and persistance KoNP. You are handling things fine. :cool1:

 

[tmd77]

heath recently sold a rainbow ric for $450 :shock:

 

[KoNP]

heath recently sold a rainbow ric for $450 :shock:

Oh snap! I didn't buy it though lol.

My little blue and purple ric appears to be pretty much done for, he's losing bits and going soft. Parts of him still look ok but other parts done. The RO unit hasn't arrived yet either. Bloody "1 day" courier my arse. I hate all the postal services in this country. They're either lazy, stupid or completely incompetent. I routinely get mail for people who don't live anywhere near me, simply because their house is a 16 like mine.

-EDIT-

So here is the formerly blue and purple ric.

He really looks sad, doesn't he? There's a bit tearing off at the top edge there, and he's lost some surface flesh (the big splodge you can see). He's not melting or anything though, not yet, so maybe there's some hope left, and he does still go slimy when you touch him (which i'm trying to avoid).