Tank finished cycling yesterday, woohoo! 16 days from start to finish, not too bad........so now the fun begins! Going to do a water change this morning, as the nitrates are ~10ppm from the cycle, then will try and catch my orange skunk clowns from my 75g and add them in. Hopefully, their LTA will follow, lol, wish me luck prying up his foot!
Light came last week, just waiting for some coral in the tank to set it up. Love that the shape looks like a small version of the tank
Decided I wanted to add some macro algae to the display. They're just as colorful as many coral and *may* help with some nutrient uptake if I'm lucky. They won't be shipped until next week though, as it's a little cold here this week, but the seller let me post his pictures here so you can see what I'll be getting
Red grape (Botryocladia) (tall stuff in the middle)
Also moved the powerhead to the lefthand side of the tank, mainly for aesthetics. The front curved glass magnified it, and although coral or macros may eventually hide it somewhat, it was just bugging me now. Monkeyed with the loc-line and the end came off one end Can't get it back on either, grrrr
Next update should have some LIVING things to see in the tank
FINALLY got around to fragging the rather large Tyree neon green toadstool. Did it yesterday while the kids napped and it took a good hour and half, phew! Tedious work, sewed 19 frags onto plugs, then glued the nylon threads down to the plugs So they're all over the tank right now, obviously going to have to remove most of them at some point, just plan on keeping the biggest frag in the tank and selling the rest.
And the original toadstool, before fragging. Not the best picture to see the size, but it was ~6-7" across.
The neon green sinularia. It has a light green neon color to it, but I can't seem to capture this with my camera.
That light seems to be working real nice on your setup. I was wondering if it was going to be too small.
Awesome pics too! What camera do you use?
Yeah, powerful little light, happy with it so far, will be interesting to see what sort of growth I get with it.
Thanks! The camera is a point and shoot, a Canon Powershot SD 1200; I use it all the time
Last edited by phishcrazee; 03-12-2012 at 01:32 PM.
Reason: Forgot to add photo
Excited that with the warmer weather comes more macro algaes in stock at the few places that really sell them I placed an order at Gulf Coast Ecosystems last week that will come sometime this week, can't wait They finally had some c. barbata in, love the look of that one.
Here's what I have coming:
c. barbata
sargassum
red gracilaria
yellow finger gorgonian
purple sea rod gorgonian
Was looking for something with some height and I'm hoping the gorgonian's will fit that bill. The gracilaria will hopefully find a spot somewhere in this tank, otherwise it will go into a 5g bucket for the time being with a light, heater and a powerhead until I get my other refugium going. I'll be sure to update with pictures once I get things acclimated and placed into the tank............
So the macros and gorgonians came in from Gulf Coast Ecosystems this past Thursday. Shipped on Monday and took 3 days to come from Florida. Everything looked good, temps for shipping were wonderful, with the exception of the snail bag which somehow got punctured in transit and the water drained out Surprisingly, the 13 cerith snails pulled through it all, although they were pretty sluggish for about a day or so. It was quite a lot of work unpacking everything and getting things mounted, took me a couple of hours between all that and watching my two kids Also had to move and acclimate all the little toadstool frags into my bigger tank, as there just wasn't room in this one with all the new plants!
Here are the gorgonians in their shipping bags:
Here are the plugs I use to mount some of the macros......I put a bit of reef glue inside, add the frag, then add a little epoxy to keep them in. Has worked pretty good for most of them.
The sargassum after I rinsed it off:
The red gracilaria
C. barbata
It took awhile to find the right spot for things and also balance their different needs for light and flow etc. Its still a work in progress, but I'm liking it pretty well right now Love the fact that I sort of filled up my tank for like $60 shipped I think a pint of the red gracilaria was $8......will have to come up with a final price list here pretty soon, as I don't have much more to add.
Left side of tank
Right side of the tank
Some of the c. barbata and the violet dream. They sent a TON of the barbata, so I have it all over the place at the moment
The codium and a frag of the barbata that came attached to a small rock. Barbata is not where a had it.......like the look of the two greens together though. The codium is really growing well
The purple sea rod. Its currently sloughing tissue, not sure if its supposed to slough as much as it is or if its not happy. The do slough tissue, but I was thinking it was more of a superficial sloughing. I email GCE to ask them about it, we'll see I guess.
The yellow finger gorgonian; I LOVE this thing It is cool on so many levels. It has these white flower-like polyps that are out 90% of the time filter feeding, then retract for a bit, then come back out. The base is a bright orange; just colorful and interesting, and inexpensive as well. Hoping I can keep it happy and thriving!
The sargassum. Love the little air bladders all over it that keep it upright. Yes, its BROWN, but I think it has an interesting look
And a full tank shot. Since adding all these macros, my nitrates went from ~ 5ppm to 0ppm! Normally, I would be thrilled, but in a tank full of macro algaes, ummm, now I'm worried about how I can get my numbers back up, lol Looking into dosing now and reading up on iron and nitrates etc. I want to see growth continue, but don't want to overdo it. Also added an adorable little cleaner shrimp the same day as all the macros, not sure what in the world I was thinking, adding yet another thing to the tank that day, but he's found his little niche in the tank and is a feisty little fellow. The kids really enjoy watching him
Last edited by phishcrazee; 03-25-2012 at 09:36 AM.
16 days from start to finish, not too bad........so now the fun begins! Going to do a water change this morning, as the nitrates are ~10ppm from the cycle, then will try and catch my orange skunk clowns from my 75g and add them in. Hopefully, their LTA will follow, lol, wish me luck prying up his foot!
Can't get it back on either, grrrr
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So they're all over the tank right now, obviously going to have to remove most of them at some point, just plan on keeping the biggest frag in the tank and selling the rest.
Originally Posted by carlitofish
Surprisingly, the 13 cerith snails pulled through it all, although they were pretty sluggish for about a day or so. It was quite a lot of work unpacking everything and getting things mounted, took me a couple of hours between all that and watching my two kids 
Also had to move and acclimate all the little toadstool frags into my bigger tank, as there just wasn't room in this one with all the new plants!
It is cool on so many levels. It has these white flower-like polyps that are out 90% of the time filter feeding, then retract for a bit, then come back out. The base is a bright orange; just colorful and interesting, and inexpensive as well. Hoping I can keep it happy and thriving!
Looking into dosing now and reading up on iron and nitrates etc. I want to see growth continue, but don't want to overdo it. Also added an adorable little cleaner shrimp the same day as all the macros, not sure what in the world I was thinking, adding yet another thing to the tank that day, but he's found his little niche in the tank and is a feisty little fellow. The kids really enjoy watching him 
