Synergy's 2012 12 gal Cube

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Originally Posted by Synergy

LOL, we were definitely using the same tank for inspiration. I like your taste! I agree, should be really fun seeing how the tanks differ. Cant wait to see what coral/corals you use for the "tree". I think frogspawn or hammer coral would look awesome! I really considered it but with the size of the "tree" I built it would cost to much or take too much time to get the look I wanted, might work better in your smaller tank.

As far as stocking I plan on going with just the xenia for the tree. I would also like to place a few mushrooms on the flat base but i'm not sure if they will get shaded out by the xenia above. GSP covering the bottom and I might make a couple mounds of zoa rocks in the GSP to give it some color, sort of like flowers in a meadow.

I was thinking about a pair of clowns and a few sexy shrimp for non-coral livestock.

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Sounds very cool! I like your idea of the "flowers." I was thinking of doing some zoas in the tree to make the tree look in bloom, but that's a cool idea in the grass!

BTW... it looks like your xenia might actually be anthelia, which would explain the mat. It can grow crazy out of control (much worse than xenia) so I would bet you could get that tree covered pretty easily! Jim had also put a price for anthelia on the list, I just don't remember what it was off hand. That might help with your pricing.

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Originally Posted by jimsflies

I don't suppose a link or photo of the "inspiring tank" is available?

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Synergy, I hope you don't mind if I post this here for Jim. This was the last picture that he posted of the tank:

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ai020410-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by jimsflies

I don't suppose a link or photo of the "inspiring tank" is available?

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I wanted to post a link to the thread but didn't because it's on another forum. If it's OK with you I can add a link to my original post?

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Originally Posted by Synergy

I wanted to post a link to the thread but didn't because it's on another forum. If it's OK with you I can add a link to my original post?

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Ooops Rosebud beat me to it. Yup that's the one! Wish he would have kept updating. Those torches were stunning!

Thanks for the ID on the antheila Rosebud, looks like the frag will be right around the $20-30 I thought with the price at $10 per 1.5". I will need to read up on athelias now.

Time for an update!

I moved a rock with GSP into the tank. Im going to give it a few days to get accustomed to the tank and then trim some pieces off and glue them on the bottom, then put the rock back into the tank it came from. Also moved a few small pieces of rock with some corals onto the tree to try to increases the microbial life of the tank. Although, since the whole thing was cycling in another tank for awhile I dont expect much although I have noticed a few pods and bristle worms crawl from the rocks into the tree. I will be removing them from the tank once I glue the anthelia onto the tree next week, so ill make a price list next week once I remove the rocks and glue the GSP down.

Here is the pic of how the tank looks now:

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/me...8-pict0205.jpg

I did some water test and the results were great:
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Calcium 440
Kh 8

I started to break the anthelia into separate chunks so I can spread it around the tree. Its pretty amazing how fast this stuff grows.

I will get an updated shot once I start placing it in the tree. Should be sometime next week.

Thats an interesting idea. Reminds me of a planted freshwater with the gsp

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Originally Posted by nate_newton

Thats an interesting idea. Reminds me of a planted freshwater with the gsp

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Thanks! Yeah, the GSP does give it a planted tank feel. Should be a lot of movement in the the tank when it is all grown out!

I finished fragging up the antheila today and began to place it into the tree. It looks like I have a lot more of it now that it is spread out. I was able to glue some pieces down that had rock on them, but others are just placed in the tree, they should take hols in a few days. I turned the Korallia off in the meantime so they don't fly around the tank.

Here is a pic showing some of the anthelia spreading onto the glass bottom. I am going to keep this piece there until the GSP starts encroaching so I can track the growth rate of the coral. You can see the GSP rock in the background.

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0246.jpg


Other than that I picked out a few mushrooms from my main tank that I will eventually move over to the base of the rock. I will snap some pics new FTS once the anthelia takes hold onto the tree.

Most of the anthelia has started to attach to the rocks. I turned the korallia on for a few minutes and only a few pieces blew away. I turned the powerhead off and repositioned them, I will give them a few more days to attach.

http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0245.jpg

The big chunk to the right is the frag plug, I plan to leave it there for a few weeks to let some pieces attach to the tree and then move it to a new place and repeat. This should be easier than trying to break it up spread it around.

I looked through my other tank and found a two headed frag of neon candy cane coral that I think I will add to the base of the tree and two small frags of zoas. I'm not certain they will get enough light, so I might put them in for a week or so and see how they react, and move them if necessary. I think I'm going to attach all the coral to the base of the tree and let the GSP grow out the whole bottom.

I will try to get new pics up each week to really track the growth. The mushrooms, zoas, and candy cane should get added over the weekend.

Update!!!!

I took some pics last week but never got a chance to post them so here we go!

Here is a the pic I posted a few weeks ago of the anthelia growing on the bottom and below it is the picture from last week. The growth rate of this stuff is impressive.
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0246.jpg
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...PICT0255-1.jpg

The GSP is starting to grow onto the bottom as well. It isn't growing as fast as the anthelia but now that it has attached I expect the growth rate will increase.
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0257.jpg

Two heads of candy cane and some mushrooms
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0260.jpg

Close up of a mushroom, also you can see a small frag of Kenya Tree in the background.
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...PICT0258-1.jpg

A piece of anthelia found its way into a small opening in the rock, I kinda like how it looks.
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0261.jpg

Top down shot, some of the rocks with encrusting gorgonian will be removed when I find room in my other tank. I have a piece growing on the rock-mag that I think I'm going to keep though
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0274.jpg

A close up shot of the anthelia
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0277.jpg

One last pic of the tree
http://i991.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/PICT0281.jpg

Overall the tank is doing well. It is running warmer than I would like, the tank runs between 80-82 degrees daily. I am going to start keeping the feeding door open hoping the increase in evaporation will help keep the tank a little cooler, I have had some troubles with xenia and high tank temps in the past.

I haven't done a water change in weeks and the water currently in the tank was from an old set-up, Some of the anthelia is changing a lighter color, im not sure if it is just adjusting to the lights or if there is a deficiency in some element, I have read that iodine is important for their growth, I dont have a test for iodine so I guess Ill just try to be more diligent with water changes.

The only inhabitants besides the coral at this point are a hitchiker stomatella snail, bristleworms, pods etc. Algae growth really isn't an issue but I plan on adding a snail and hermit crab to keep things clean.

Are you feeding this tank? Softies lightening color can tell you they need to be fed- or you are on the right track and they are missing some chemicals.

I find that anthelia will look completely different within the same system depending on light and flow. As you have seen, the stuff can get everywhere and grow very quickly. I am constantly pulling small pieces out from all over our system and it always amazes me how different anthelia cam look, even when given the same water conditions.