Kallor

Yes, most noble work indeed. These are the kinda posts that really inspire us new folk and give us good ideas - good work and thanks for sharing!

Oh, and one more ... this is after I decided I liked where I had originally placed the monti frag ... I only moved him and inch or so, but I did grab the rock he is attached to and put some more epoxy on it. He didn't take too kindly to this ... A wild Monti appeared - Monti is angry! He used stinging tentacle attack!

Some Coral Updates Here are some update photos of a sampling of my current corals - all 100% WAMAS in origin Red Montiporra Green Encrusting SPS Candy Cane LPS Issac's frogspawn is also doing very well, and his toadstool leather is going wild. Oddly enough, after seeming ok for a few days, the GSP seems a bit off sorts, but I hear they are a hearty sort so I assume he will recover.

It was great to have you come by and check him out - getting a valued second opinion on his health has made me feel much more relaxed :-)

Thanks for asking! The anemone appears to be doing pretty well. He opens up and extends his tentacles really nicely in the day time. I'm not sure if he has anchored himself or not, but he has been in the same spot in the back corner of the tank for the last 4 days, so it certainly is possible. He is kinda wedged between a rock and the glass, so he has rooting options should he decide to go that route. I think I have a good reason to feel optimistic about his longer term health - I'm going to keep monitoring him, but things are certainly looking positive!

Thanks for the kind words guys! They are very much appreciated! The positive feedback really helps keep one going through the challenges that crop up; e.g., the last three hours I spent getting one of the clownfish out of the overflow for the second time. I've now put up some netting in front of the overflow to keep out the fish as a temporary solution. I swear he learned since his first trip back in the overflow . . . he was much, much harder to catch this time.

Thanks again everyone for all the info and help, and also just for tuning in! I'll have a better update in the near future, but for now, Sita the Pink Skunk Clownfish says hello. She has been much more outgoing since I found her husband (Ravan) in the overflow As I told Isaac earlier, losing a fish for a few days in your overflow seems kinda like a rite of passage.

Hahaha yeah it is kinda hard to keep up with you sometimes. However, all your updates make for a fun catch-up on the weekends for me! Great job getting the mantis display tank fully operational as well. Should make displaying and enjoying his awesomness much easier! And I also dig the color-filtered shots you took - I haven't really used color filters much ... but maybe I have a reason to try out some new camera equipment now

Hey, thanks a ton for taking the time to write this up. I've been trying my best to do due diligence with my purchase plan (talked to folks in person, did a post on the ReefCentral "nubs post here first before buying anything" thread, and all that jazz). Regardless, it seems I may have dropped the ball in this instance. But again, thanks for taking the time to follow my thread and to give me the benefit of your great deal of experience. I'm going to keep a careful eye on the 'nem over the next few days. My basic parameters remain solid, so I can't think of any reason my tank would be poisoning the 'nem (of course there are things we can't test for ... but for those we can, things look good). I don't have any worries about the clowns loving the 'nem to death - as far as I can tell they have no clue he is even in the tank. The one clown I can see is remaining contained in a 4" cube only he can see, which is on the opposite side of the tank from the anemone My thinking is that absent some drastic shift in my water parameters, the best thing is to take is slow and give the guy a week to settle. He isn't getting bothered by fish, and there is very low flow. After he has a chance to make my tank his new home, if he still hasn't settled then I'll move him somewhere he can be happy and then revisit this anemone decision again some months down the road. Thanks again for the valuable input! If I'm unintentionally being tone deaf to your advice, feel free to let me know. You've given me a lot of tips, and I'm going to re-read this a few times over the next few days. Additionally, as you noted These 'build logs' are only helpful when we share both our ups and downs, so I'll update regardless. With that said, everyone enjoy a cozy evening at home and stay off what may soon become hazardous roads!

Thanks for the tip! I called Quantum Reefs and talked to Vince, and he had the same advice. I made kinda a cage with my hand and very delicately moved the 'nem from the back corner of the tank to a lower-flow area in the front - I placed him right in front of a rock, in a crevice area as you described, and then buried his foot with some extra sand. I've also got my MP-40s turned off, and I'm just letting the recirculation pump run, so there are just some delicate currents in the tank. The 'nems tentacles are not pushed back into his 'foot' casing and his colors and everything look nice. I'm taking some interval photos so if he moves around or something like that I'll hopefully have a record of it I was pondering the feeding issue, but I'll certainly hold of for now as your advice definitely makes sense. I did feed the one clownfish that isn't hiding - I squirted a brine shrimp is the corner he is hiding in - he quickly gobbled it up, so I'm feeling confident about his health. Hopefully his partner will come of the rocks and into view in the next day or two. Thanks to you, and everyone else for the input and help!

No doubt in my mind about either of those 2 statements. :-) I was just trying to clarify if the "3-4 weeks" was a typo (and he meant months) or if he was referring to something else . . .

Eeek! To start, thanks everyone for the input! I feel sheepish about my potential mistake, but I don't want to overreact either. . . so with that said, I guess I need to clarify some stuff . . My plan had been to get the anemone around 2 weeks after adding the clownfish - but the clownfish took a little longer to acquire than I anticipated, hence I picked them up at the same time. monkiboy, I'm not sure what you mean exactly by the 3-4 weeks with regards to my cycle ... March 6th will the the 3 month mark for me. Do you mean 3-4 weeks since the cycle completed? I set the tank up and started cycling back in early December. I've been at 0 ammonia and nitrites for a long time (weeks) but had 2.0 or so PPM nitrates up until about a month ago. Then the nitrates dropped to 0.5 ppm until about a few weeks back . . . since then everything has held at 0/0/0. I figured that since I've got about 140ish gallons of water, two tiny clownfish would be unlikely to trigger much new activity with regards to the nitrogen cycle. . . particularly since I've been doing regular ghost feedings to keep the bacteria in my tank happy (along with the bristleworms). I've talked to Vince and Steve both quite a bit about my setup, and they are familiar with my tank, its age and my equipment. And I certainly don't want to shift any blame their way if I made a mistake. Steve said that the anemone had been in the store for about 3 weeks . . . though it did not appear to be attached in their anemone area when I saw it. However, I figured since it was a 'nem that likes sand, and it was in a bare-bottomed holding area, the lack of attaching to the glass might be by design as unattaching the 'nem can be harmful (or so I've read). But like I've noted, I'm still learning and mistakes are inevitable I suppose. The thought on getting the anemone earlier rather than later was to avoid it walking around and zapping established corals as it found its home. But if I've bungled things I want to do what is best for the anemone and the rest of the tank inhabitants. So with that all said: is it unanimous that I've made a blunder with adding the anemone? Even though I'm at the 3 month mark? If so, how long should I wait before bagging up the 'nem and driving him back to QR (assuming that would be in the 'nem's best interest)? Thanks again for all the info and the continued advice!

The communities generosity continues! Andrei started the ball rolling with the Candy Cane frag (which appears to be very happy) and Isaac kicked it up another notch with a great tank tour of his lovely setup and sent me home with 6 more frags. I now have some starter colonies of green star polyps, a lovely piece of red montipora (which really fluoresces nicely), a lively purple/green frogspawn, a green encrusting sps and a sliver of toadstool that I am going to enjoy watching grow into a healthy colony. These new guys have been in the tank since Monday evening, and everything appears to be acclimating nicely. The GSP and the toadstool looked a little dicey at first, but now both of them are extending their polyps in the daytime. I'm figuring out final frag placement, and will update with photos in the near future. So now I'm almost 3 months into my setup, and I had after another week at 0/0/0 ammonia, 'tries and 'trates, with stable salinity (1.025), pH (7.9 - 8.1) and all that good stuff - so time for fish! The two tiny ORA pink skunk clowns I ordered via Quantum Reefs arrived on Friday, and I carried them home in the bags they shipped in. Our cat, Moria, was quite taken with the new movement in the tank... The clownfish are as small as any I've seen (around 1/2" I suppose), and I look forward to watching them grow. One of the pair seems more adventurous than the other (or just 'hides' in a more open spot) and has taken up residence in one of the front corners of the tank. He more or less hovers an inch or two off the sand bed, and hasn't shown any interest in food yet, but it has only been 36 hours since his cross country trip to VA. The more reclusive member of the pair has found a great hiding spot, and I haven't seen her since shortly after she was added to the tank. Also, while I was picking up the clowns, I saw that Quantum had the perfect size purple long tentacled anemone in stock, so I grabbed him as well. Here is them 'nem just after drip acclimation . . . The 'nem still hasn't anchored himself anywhere in the tank. I tried burying his foot myself, but as he didn't choose to anchor himself, he slowly was pulled out of the sand. At the moment he is in the back corner of the tank behind some rocks, and apparently just tumbles wherever the current takes him. I've got the pumps on ultra-slow to try to make things more relaxing for him. Based on what I've read online, it seems that this isn't too uncommon an experience to have when adding a long tentacled anemone to a tank. But all the same, based on what you all see in the photos, does this guy look healthy? I figure I should give him a week or so to sort himself out to his new home prior to worrying ... right? Based on the photos, does he look more or less healthy? Here is the 'nem, upside down 24 hours after being added to the tank. Hopefully this time next week I'll have two visible clownfish, and an anchored anemone. Time will tell! As usual, all advice and comments are much appreciated!

Thanks for the info! Your diagnosis aligns with the hitchhiker research I've done on my own - so I'm going to assume we are all correct :-) At first I was hoping they were baby cap snails . . . but alas, I suppose that isn't the case. It certainly is interesting how many different types of life can spring up in ones tank!

Thanks for checking out the thread! And also, thanks for the tube worm info. That certainly sounds like a reasonable guess to me . . . but I'm such a coral nub' I wasn't sure if it was a scrape the coral got, if it was an egg sack for something evil and invasive, or something more on the harmless side. I assumed harmless, as I figured you would have know about anything that large on the frag that was dangerous. I'm sure I'd get some tubeworms at some point anyway, and like you said they should be harmless. So I'll consider it a bonus addition to my tanks bio-diversity :-)

I ordered a pair of pink skunk clownfish - which hopefully will agree to host a purple long tentacled anemone that I'll pick up in short order. Regarding softies, I'm game whenever works for you! Thanks for the offer! I'll send you a PM and see what times might work. If you haven't already diced up the corals in question, if it is reasonable I'd love to see the process!

The last two weeks have been particularly eventful for Gurgly. I've finally ordered my first fish, which I should have this week, and I unexpectedly have my first coral. I met with Andrei (aka dante411x - a really nice guy) - he came by to pick up some extra sound dampening foam I had left over from my build. He generously brought by an extra candy cane lps frag he had, and after a Bayer dip, I'm happy to say it seems to like its new home. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself . . . As my nitrogen cycle wrapped up, I started to notice more and more life in the tank. I've got a handful of bristle worms, but when they show themselves they don't stay visible for long, making getting a photo tricky. I've also started to notice pods and other more exotic creatures on the glass ... I think this is some type of flatworm ... hopefully a harmless one. These guys are particularly cool looking ... perhaps a Cladonema sp. ... or a hydroid? Now a question for the community: Is this something to be worried about? I noticed two red bumpy scabs/growths on the candy canes 'stalk'. I'm not too sure what to make of this, as it is my very first coral. And finally, the candy cane in all of its glory, tentacles extended on its second night in my tank. Exciting times!

LOL - yeah I'm kinda envisioning this happening. I guess worse case scenario my 'nem decides to hide in a dark corner, and the clowns both host him in said corner .... but time shall tell!

Thanks for checking in! There will no doubt continue to be all sorts of surprises, particularly as my tank becomes more biologically diverse. . . which makes it all the more important to have the this community support when things get dicey.

Much appreciated! As my nitrogen cycle settles out I'm starting to get quite excited about placing corals on it - hopefully my 'scaping plan will play out. I've been envisioning acropora near the rear of the tank near the top and near the pumps, and then having softer stuff in the front. Hopefully my anemone will pick a good spot ... the idea is to have him settle in the front left corner of the tank (which I suppose would cramp my hairworm's style). But time will tell!

Absolutely! When I can finally frag a piece of coral sounds like a lifetime away - just being able to place one in the tank almost does as well. But hey, in a few months hopefully I'll be ready. It would be great to be able to join in the community frag swapping!

The kind words are much appreciated! I hope to get better at my aquarium photography as Gurgly's inhabitants will also surely grow my interesting. On and off for most of my cycle I've gotten a variety of bacterial blooms that has clouded the water (and glass) quite a bit. That seems to be setting down *fingers crossed* and clear water should certainly help in the photography realm. Thanks again!

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm trying my level best to 'do it right'. To be honest though, I've been kept relatively busy just doing the routine tank setup tasks - programming the Apex (which I suppose one is never finished with), dialing in the skimmer, dealing with getting the ATO set up correctly (avoiding siphons in both directions, etc.). Living vicariously through everyone else on the forums has also helped However, I must say I am more than a wee bit excited about finally getting my first fish in the tank!