Phischy's Project PtIII: Actually have corals!

[Phischy]

Well, it's about freakin' time. Today my bud Nate tore down his tank and I picked up some pink/purple shrooms, yellow/orange zoo's, Green Frog Spawn (not super healthy but one head is alive), two Rics (also not very happy at the moment but they should pull through) and something else, an alovera or something...very healthy. I'm going to do some before after pics but everything is going ot get aclamated today and then nate will come over tomorrow and help me put 'em where they'll be the most happy.

Plus he gave me a ton of extras like trace element, new bag of salt and foods...really cool! So I'm pretty stoked. Pics to come by Sunday!!!

 

[Phischy]

Hmm..also forgot about the green open brain coral that hasn't been too happy yet either. And I'll also pick up an orange brittle star tomorrow that we saw after the dust settled but I had already packed my crap up. Everything is in my tank now but still closed, I figure it may take a day b/c they've been pretty tramatized. I should add some food as well since my tank may be pretty barren after not having ever put anything into it. What fun!

 

[djconn]

Finally! So how many days total from the minute you put your rock in to today?

Your patience will pay off grasshopper.

Can't wait to see pics!

 

[Phischy]

Nate delivered the rock Oct 13th so...I waited 64days to finally put corals in. This time last year is when I was doing the serious planning on my tank and getting my orders straight. Wow, that's a long time!

 

[Phischy]

Images!!!!

Here's the tank before, 64 days after first adding live rock:

The first, my hairy shroom:

Then the purple shroom:

Then some orange zoos, not the best pic:

Not pictured are the green open brain who's doing alot better on day 3 or the purple ric who's still not happy, neither is the green frogspawn. I'm hoping those two will come around but only time will tell. Now, I also got an unexpected visitor, some sort of worm, can anyone ID this sucker for me? It's really gross and not the best pic, sort of flat with 'feet' all along the sides....

 

[incysor]

That's your standard garden variety bristle worm.

Congrats on finally getting some corals in the tank. You're certainly one of the most patient folks I've met. :smile:

B

 

[djconn]

Congrats! Things are looking good. Those purple mushrooms look awesome!

 

[Phischy]

I've also been toying around with the manuel mode of my Canon S400. It makes a huge difference in the blue/green colors. I really need a damn tripod to keep the camera steady, I may have to pick one up shortly.

I got everything placed the other night so I"ll have to take another full tank picture to show it's current setup. Hopefully Nate will be bringing me zoa's and rics tonight. We'll see anyway...

With what I've got in there, I expect my calcium levels to drop so what other things should I check as far as my water parameters go? I'll probably do a water change tomorrow since I"ll be gone for 4 days. Nate hooked me up with a bunch of food and other crap that I'll have to post, most of it is calc/alk buffer and I"ll need to get a new test kit for the other micro nutriets as well. Just trying to get a feel for what's going on. After xmas I'm going to hold off on adding anything to the tank so I can get all my levels stablized again and then go from there.

Thanks!

 

[djconn]

Because you did everything the 'right' way and were very patient, I think your new additions will be minimally noticed as far as tank parameters go. I'd monitor Ca and Alk and just keep things where they should be.

I'd do a 30% water change like you said too. You've got nothing to worry about (unless some of the other corals don't pull though).

 

[incysor]

I agree with djConn. The corals you just put in will pull less calcium out than when your coraline starts taking off. If you just stocked a bunch of SPS you'd probably see a swing, but I seriously doubt you'll notice one with the stuff you just put in.

Can't wait to see the new pics.

B

 

[Phischy]

That's cool. Didn't get home tonight before the main light went out, only the atinic is still on. Although in looking where iplaced one coral about half of it isn't exposed to the light meaning it'll die off, but the other half is growing so I guess that's good. Sucks to watch 1/2 die while the other half thrives.

 

[incysor]

So move it. Did you epoxy it in place or something?

B

 

[Phischy]

Yeah, it is expoixed in place, but that doesn't mean I can't move it. I probably will tonight, a little higher up and tilted different so the majority can 'see' the light. Amen brother!

I'm headed to the Aquatic Wareshouse tonight. Nate went and bought 10g worth of fish (mostly) and corals for the next 4 weeks. This was at wholesale too. So I want to go see what the equates to in terms of what's in stock. I need to pick up a few test kits for alk/calc and whatever else so I can get a handle on what my tank is really doing. Kind of important, right?!?! ha ha

I'm not hopefull for my rics or frogspawn, neither seems to be showing anysigns of getting better. But who knows, I'll just leave it alone and see where it is when I return on Monday. I didn't pay for 'em so it's no real loss.

 

[incysor]

Yeah, it is expoixed in place, but that doesn't mean I can't move it. I probably will tonight, a little higher up and tilted different so the majority can 'see' the light. Amen brother!

I'm headed to the Aquatic Wareshouse tonight. Nate went and bought 10g worth of fish (mostly) and corals for the next 4 weeks. This was at wholesale too. So I want to go see what the equates to in terms of what's in stock. I need to pick up a few test kits for alk/calc and whatever else so I can get a handle on what my tank is really doing. Kind of important, right?!?! ha ha

I'm not hopefull for my rics or frogspawn, neither seems to be showing anysigns of getting better. But who knows, I'll just leave it alone and see where it is when I return on Monday. I didn't pay for 'em so it's no real loss.

What color Ric? My orange/pink ones seem to like the light, but my bright neon green ones seeme to prefer it a bit shadier. Usually frogspawn will come out fairly quickly unless it's in a real high-flow area, then it may stay contracted.

 

[Phischy]

The ric is purple and orange, very pretty and it split and then got sick in Nate's tank. It was the one piece I really wanted but I was lazy and never took it and in the meantime he got lazy about his tank and just let it go. Doh! I hope it recovers.

I'll have to move the frogspawn as well, it may be in an area that is too high current. It wasn't happy either and 2 of 3 heads had already died. nate gave it to me in hopes it would live again, so we'll see.

 

[Phischy]

I'll try to get some new photo's up shortly.

Frogspawn is dead and gone. Bummer.

But everything else came back and is in the process of recovering. The one I'm most shocked about is the two rics. They live!!!

I've also got problems with cruddy sand and brown hard algea on my acrylic tank, it's a b!tch to rub off. What eats this stuff? I think I just need more cleanup crew to handle cleaning the sand.

And I've got some macro algea to ID here shortly as well. Pics to come!!!

 

[dragon79]

I'll try to get some new photo's up shortly.

Frogspawn is dead and gone. Bummer.

But everything else came back and is in the process of recovering. The one I'm most shocked about is the two rics. They live!!!

I've also got problems with cruddy sand and brown hard algea on my acrylic tank, it's a b!tch to rub off. What eats this stuff? I think I just need more cleanup crew to handle cleaning the sand.

And I've got some macro algea to ID here shortly as well. Pics to come!!!

from your friend it looks like you took a chance with what he gave you. Its like you have a huge hospital tank in hopes it would recover. Well like you said, at least you didn't pay for anything and some things are pulling through. Hey I was wondering....why was your tank running for over 60 days before you put anything in? Just letting it cycle more than just 30? As for things to rid the cruddy things of algae and what not, just pick up more cleanup crew, and perhaps a few turbo snails. I congratulate you on the rics, they pulled though after having to recover from what you said was a tear I believe. My main green ricordia got jacked bad by a hitchhiker crab, but even though I got it out, each day that went by the ric got worse, started disolving, then came off the rock. Tried to help let it recover with a sprite bottle, but did not pull through, just dissolved more into it's basically yucky goo. Only ric I have left is a baby one, the size no bigger than a dime. Keep us posted with what you get or with what happens with the things in your tank.

 

[Phischy]

I think I've got 15-20 crabs but only 7 or so snails. I guess I need more snails and sandsifting critters. Maybe some blue-legged crabs to help clean up as well.

I had and still have a few bad 'pods that I was trying to rid myself of prior to putting things in my tank. but I think it's just something I'm go ing to have to deal with on a continual basis. I still haven't put fish in for fear the ispods will start to feed on them. Last night I saw another one but he got away.

The rics are turning around but my tank is now getting dirty due to aglea so I've got to fight that off and I'll keep everything pretty much the status quo until everything is better.

I think my sump may be a source of contamination as well. It's got a fine powder (brown) like substance in it and I don't know what it is, I"m running a microbag, I just may need to run a power filter in there as well for awhile.

Thanks!

 

[incysor]

I think I've got 15-20 crabs but only 7 or so snails. I guess I need more snails and sandsifting critters. Maybe some blue-legged crabs to help clean up as well.

I had and still have a few bad 'pods that I was trying to rid myself of prior to putting things in my tank. but I think it's just something I'm go ing to have to deal with on a continual basis. I still haven't put fish in for fear the ispods will start to feed on them. Last night I saw another one but he got away.

The rics are turning around but my tank is now getting dirty due to aglea so I've got to fight that off and I'll keep everything pretty much the status quo until everything is better.

I think my sump may be a source of contamination as well. It's got a fine powder (brown) like substance in it and I don't know what it is, I"m running a microbag, I just may need to run a power filter in there as well for awhile.

Thanks!

The next time you do a water change just suck up the detritus from the sump. It helps to keep things clean, and less possible wear on your pump.

B

 

[Phischy]

New photo's of everything in my tank:

First the aporia (SP?) it has 12 'fingers':

Now the Green Open Brain that came back from the dead:

My hairy shrooms that are thriving:

Orange Zooanthids (Conn, I'll frag off the upper left hand portion for you, there are 6 to 7 pods on it)

Some pinkish shrooms, these guys are also multiplying, I've seen 3 or 4 babies, also I'll send these to Conn once they've grown out a bit:

And my two purple rics that are making a come back from the dead. When I got them they were less than the size of a dime, the one on the left was the orgional one and it started to split before I got it. The smaller one on the right is slowly making a comeback: