Our 1 month old 65g baby!!

[Smoothtriqueter]

HI everyone,

 

We just found out about and joined WAMAS through our LFS tripod. Though a month in, to the day, this is our first post! We are new to reefing and have had freshwater tanks for years. We understand we are in for a trip! Any help with IDing frags, comments and/or suggestions would be awesome! We are in college park and wondering if anyone is in the area or knows any good places to suggest we check out!

 

Link to Pics ended up a little bit further down!!

 

We purchased a used setup from our fav LFS so best to my knowledge these are our specs:

-65g

-Current USA Satelite Dual Compact Fluorescent (1-96w dual actinic/ 1-96w dual daylight 10000k)

-Custome built Sump/fuge

-UV

-Protein skimmer (help on brand?) "we sound so new"

-level controller

-temporary power-head/wave-maker "on a college budget"

-Tank was set up for sea-horses so return is diffused (pic)

 

Inhabitance

-Coral banded shrimp RIP

-3 emerald crabs

-8-12 snails

-1 halloween hermit crab

-3 blue 2 red hermits

-3 peppermint shrimp

-1 four banded damsel

-1 yellowtail damsel

-1 sally light foot crab

-1 pom pom crab

NEW9/20/08

-Red Flame Scallop

-Lawnmower Blenny

-several new brittle stars in LR

-2 clams on LR

 

Corals in order of addition

(All below found as or w/LR)

-4 green button polyps (we have 6 now)

-red bubble coral (great find)

-1 Christmas tree worm

-pink/yellow/white sponges

-6 orange w/green rim zoa (Help Id please) (we have 10 now)

-1 maroon zoa (help ID) (we have 2 Now)

-few small anemones

-APTASIAAAAAAAAA(TWO KINDS)

(our first purchases @day 25)

-White bubble coral

-orange w/purple ricordea 1"

-pink w/ light blue ricordea 2 mouths 1.5"

-Blue mushroom 2"

-green trumpet frag 5 heads

-green ricordea 1.5"

-red and white mushroom (ID)

-brown bubble Mushroom (ID)

-2 Cinnamon polyps

-Maroon Zoa frag (10 polyps)

NEW9/20/08

-purple and yellow ricordea

-1'' Green maze brain

-5-6 teal zoas

-10 red zoas

-pink w/ yellow tip torch

-! head of a green duncan

-2 yellow polyps

-11-12 zoas on rock with yellow polyps

-fuzzy green mushroom with pink tips

-1/4 large (dead) fungia with 3 cinnamon polyps and some zoas

-red mushroom

 

 

Edited September 24, 2008 by Smoothtriqueter

[Smoothtriqueter]

Ummmmm ok so the picture thing not working. I have a Mac anything I need to do special? I can choose the file but they wont attach?

[djcerna]

load them into your gallery and link with using the posting tools.

 

also Welcome!

[Smoothtriqueter]

Sorry really new to this!

 

How do I set up a gallery?

[DDiver]

Welcome to WAMAS......

[Smoothtriqueter]

maybee no pics i need a day or two

Edited September 6, 2008 by Smoothtriqueter

[reefmontalvo]

WELCOME ! !

 

There is lots of information here. And lots of insightful tips on almost every problem, I used the info as my own personal data base when I notice a problem with my tank.

[Smoothtriqueter]

Thank you all for your gracious welcomes.

 

We are sorry that the Pics will take a few days but as we are learning quite quickly that patience is a virtue!

 

We do have one question while we all wait for the pics. We have several Mushroom pieces that We got loose. What is the best way to fix them to a rock? we don't have a separate frag tank!

[reefmontalvo]

HI everyone,

 

We just found out about and joined WAMAS through our LFS tripod. Though a month in, to the day, this is our first post! We are new to reefing and have had freshwater tanks for years. We understand we are in for a trip! Any help with IDing frags, comments and/or suggestions would be awesome! We are in college park and wondering if anyone is in the area or knows any good places to suggest we check out!

 

We purchased a used setup from our fav LFS so best to my knowledge these are our specs:

-65g

-T5 96W 10,00k (Refer to pic)

-Custome built Sump/fuge

-UV

-Protein skimmer (help on brand?) "we sound so new"

-level controller

-temporary power-head/wave-maker "on a college budget"

-Tank was set up for sea-horses so return is diffused (pic)

 

Inhabitance

-Coral banded shrimp

-3 emerald crabs

-8-12 snails

-1 halloween hermit crab

-3 blue 2 red hermits

-3 peppermint shrimp

-1 four banded damsel

-1 yellowtail damsel

-1 sally light foot crab

-1 pom pom crab

 

Corals in order of addition

(All below found as or w/LR)

-4 green button polyps (we have 6 now)

-red bubble coral (great find)

-1 Christmas tree worm

-pink/yellow/white sponges

-6 orange w/green rim zoa (Help Id please) (we have 10 now)

-1 maroon zoa (help ID) (we have 2 Now)

-few small anemones

-APTASIAAAAAAAAA(TWO KINDS)

(our first purchases @day 25)

-White bubble coral

-orange w/purple ricordea 1"

-pink w/ light blue ricordea 2 mouths 1.5"

-Blue mushroom 2"

-green ricordea 1.5"

-red and white mushroom (ID)

-brown bubble Mushroom (ID)

-2 Cinnamon polyps

-Maroon Zoa frag (10 polyps)

 

Now is time for the criticism! Did we move too fast or is the fact that we have good H2O and no losses yet a good thing? Ohh and we do have pics!! ill just post them on the next one!

 

 

Don't worry about critics. Sounds like you have everything under control. Did you purchase this a setup already to go out of the LFS?

[Smoothtriqueter]

The tank, light, stand, sump, uv, level control, and actually an aqua controller jr that I have not even began to tackle all came together. We purchased the amazing batch of LR from the same LFS, Tropical Lagoon in downtown Silver Spring, for a great deal! same place we purchased our first corals!

[Smoothtriqueter]

******FINALLY THE LINK TO PICS!!!!!******

 

Pictures thanks to bobs help through very fast email responses!

 

http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/Smoothtriqueter/

 

let us know what you all think we are complete newbees and just went for it!

Edited September 20, 2008 by Smoothtriqueter

[DDiver]

so far so good...the key thing to this hobby is patience..your tank is still young and needs time to stablize..you don't want to spend so much on corals or fish and then have it die on you because it does not like the conditions of your tank..

[Smoothtriqueter]

Yeah we are at a stopping point, I like to reefer to it as a "growing point"! All I really want is to add a frogspawn or hammer frag and than i will be happy until we move in 8 months. Anyone know of somewhere good let me know!

 

another quick question, we have been adding reef complete for calcium strontium and magnesium, and adding iodide but what would be my best bet for maintaining proper pH? buffer or what? and still need to purchase and RO or RO/DI. Any suggestions. LFS recommended kold ster-il!

[YBeNormal]

Keegan,

 

Glad I could be of assistance.

 

To have individual pics show up directly in your posts, click on the URL box next to "IMG Code" under the picture in your Photobucket page. This will automatically copy the link with the required tags. You can then past the code into your WAMAS post. For example, I clicked on the code under one of your pics and this code was automatically copied:

 

[IMG=http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/Smoothtriqueter/P1010503-1.jpg]

 

When the code is pasted here, the picture will be displayed. Example:

 

I'm not familiar with the KoldSteril filters but you might want to review these discussions before taking that plunge. A lot of us are using RO/DI units from Air, Water and Ice (a.k.a. AWI), while others are using units from The Filter Guys, ebay or other sellers. AWI is a WAMAS sponsor and offers a 10% discount for WAMAS members. We often set up group buys with AWI and get 15% off plus free shipping for total orders over $900. Here is a good (but slightly technical) article on RO.DI filtration that you might be interested in.

 

Water changes and maybe Alk/Ca supplementation are all that is needed for most tanks. Alk/Ca supplementation can be accomplished using a two-part commercial product such as B-Ionic, a homemade two or three part solution such as the one posted by R.H. Farley (link), kalk stirrers, kalk reactors or a combination of these options.

 

Here are some great articles to get you started. If parts of the articles seem a little too technical, read through them anyway and file them away for future reference. It will all begin to make sense as you gain experience in the hobby.

 

The

[reefmontalvo]

Yeah we are at a stopping point, I like to reefer to it as a "growing point"! All I really want is to add a frogspawn or hammer frag and than i will be happy until we move in 8 months. Anyone know of somewhere good let me know!

 

another quick question, we have been adding reef complete for calcium strontium and magnesium, and adding iodide but what would be my best bet for maintaining proper pH? buffer or what? and still need to purchase and RO or RO/DI. Any suggestions. LFS recommended kold ster-il!

 

Very nice Aquascaping looking forward to seeing more future photos of how everything grows. Rather than add those chems at different intervals they sell what is called "B-Ionic", it's an all in one addative also when dosing with that stuff you can also use magnesium which will help your corals grow and maintain there structure and lastly your lights are they PC's? Your going to find you get more for you money when you use T-5's I had PC's for some time and realized there nice, but your got to change those lights every 6-8 months. Versus T-5's you change once a year. Oh and if you start to get cyano (red slime like looking algea), go get you some nasarrius snails they will help with churning the sand to keep it moving and not llow the cyano to grow.

Edited September 7, 2008 by reefmontalvo

[Smoothtriqueter]

Thanks for the compliments we are actually very pleased with the scaping. We took our time choosing pieces bit by bit so it would all come together. Hours with my arms in the tank with my GF across the room directing!

 

You are the second to mention the B-Ionic and I will look into it, I am actually on my way to Scales in Cloverly! (Getting some nasarrius snails )

 

Yeah not sure on the lights ill have to reefer back to LFS and double check, already saving for the MH, college tuition sucks!

 

Thanks everyone for all the great help thus far and can't wait to show off progress!

[reefmontalvo]

MH lights are expensive, and are light colors of the rainbow there are so many and of differnet shapes and sizes. T-5's are a bitter cheaper and a step closer to MH and a huge step away from PC's.

[Smoothtriqueter]

:

 

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Ok I know the picture isn't the best but don't have in tank photo capabilities yet. But the green polyps on front of the CBS's right claw, what could they possibly be? Came on LR, not clear like aptasia, very green under blues! i'll try to get a better pic soon.

[davelin315]

Majano anemones. Pests, get rid of them if they begin to spread. They are prolific and sting. If they don't start to reproduce, they can be very pretty, but once they do start to spread they will sting everything.

[Smoothtriqueter]

Ok, finally a name!! I have been looking all over and hadn't fond anythng. Thank you!!

 

Now to get rid of them......aptasia X, just found this stuff called joe's juice, seen people use kalk, looking for the best option, known to have worked!!!

 

We added our 3rd fish yesterday!! we looked at 4 different and decided that the one we got was the fattest the most active and most colorful. Lawnmower Blenny within min of putting him in he found a hole stuck his head out and started scrapping the rock clean it was great!

 

VIDEO!!!!!! (first one didn't work) and of course the two damsels (jailbait and rock-star) had to make an appearance, they are sooooo in your face all the time!

 

http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/S...as%20forum%201/

 

Edited September 8, 2008 by Smoothtriqueter

[Smoothtriqueter]

Just wanted to add more photos. We collected a few shells for our 6 or so hermits to move into as they grew. My gf is amazing at finding the diamond in the ruff. She spends hours at our LFS looking for the perfect shell, LR, Fish and all!! I kind owe it to her slightly obsessive behavior, I say affectionately, for some of the amazing "free" (cost of LR ) Corals and critters we have collected. Well enough kissing up. One of the shells had a feather duster on it, hand picked because. And the first night a blue legged hermit moved on in. The feather duster sits to the back like a hat with a feather out the back!! Have a look its too funny, we see him everywhere!

 

"Top Hat"!!!

[reefmontalvo]

Watch that feather duster as well. They tend to sprea really fast. I allowed a few to enter my tank and now I have a small sub colony under the rock work. There great filter feeders but a pest as well if left un-checked.

 

 

Also check this link out on the Majano Anemone I think your going to like the tips and tricks: www.melevsreef.com/pics/bta/not/majano.html

Edited September 9, 2008 by reefmontalvo

[Smoothtriqueter]

Watch that feather duster as well. They tend to sprea really fast. I allowed a few to enter my tank and now I have a small sub colony under the rock work. There great filter feeders but a pest as well if left un-checked.

Also check this link out on the Majano Anemone I think your going to like the tips and tricks: www.melevsreef.com/pics/bta/not/majano.html

 

Boiled RO sounds kinda fun. Hope it works, I'll try aptasia x or JJ if this doesn't work first.

 

And how much of a pest can the dusters be? control?

[Smoothtriqueter]

Ok, so because all of the info coming back has been so grand my gf wont let me make a move without asking WAMAS permission now! As I have been mentioning Majona anemones are defiantly in our tank. We Just a got a mushroom frag rock and the frogspawn. On the rock is what I think is another one, my gf wants to think it is something grander. Could you all please help both of us out!!!!????!!!!!

 

 

No flash

 

Flash (Jailbait loves to be in EVERY picture! and he Bites!)

[davelin315]

Looks like one to me!