OP
OP
I'd love a nice deep blue maxima... but don't they get REALLY big? How fast do they grow?
Turtle's Fairy Tale
- Cube Build
- Thread starter SashimiTurtle
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Like your cabinet color -Ametican Gray. It's an attractive neutral, but also not seen often for tank cabinets. I work in interior design, so it is fun to see a cool color like that. Enjoying your build thread. Congrats!
OP
OP
Thank you, and welcome to my Fairy Tale.
Hey y'all do new guys still bring the snacks...? Turtle says yes.
Oh and the stand! When I saw they had options other than, to quote a forum friend, "blah blah black" I jumped all over it. In the wood stands the options were rustic black, american gray, matte brown and white wash. I didn't know how the brown would match the furniture, so I went with the gray. I'm glad it turned out how it did. (Even the tank crack because I now have shiny floors)
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
Absolutely! BBQ, Beer, Rum and Whisky for this crowd me thinks. Though we settle for pretty much anything!
Tmm87
Well-Known Member
Not sure how fast they grow and yes they can get pretty big. But that's when you sell it off and start over. Can get some nice cash for a huge clam. Especially a really pretty one.
OP
OP
In a hurry to feed the fish before work... bought the new Jurassic World game for the Xbox, theme park simulator... anyway, I didn't feel like waiting around to thaw out my cube of LRS so I just turned the return into feed mode and threw in the frozen cube. My clowns immediately attacked it, everyone else was a bit shy. The wrasse took a few pieces the clowns shook loose, then something funny happened...
View attachment 20180714_171046.jpg
View attachment 20180714_171046.jpg
OP
OP
Ok, I can't contain myself any longer. One of the LFS down in Chucktown(Charleston, SC) hold weekly auctions unless something like RAP or his own frag show Reef Dreams is going on. Two weeks ago we won the Tubbs stellata and the WWC Green Lantern Cyphastrea... well, this week something special popped up. It's an acro that doesn't have a shop's acronym attached to it but does have a name. Don't bother trying to Google it either is all your get is cheap bottom shelf wine, a George Jones song and maybe a flower or two... I've only seen it from this one shop also.
Wild Irish Rose, WYSIWYG frag (chunky frag at that)
Mother colony
Wild Irish Rose, WYSIWYG frag (chunky frag at that)
Mother colony
OP
OP
Won the auction last night. Thinking of getting him to throw another small frag in to even out the cost, like I did with the two stylos, but it'll ship up from Charleston this week. It's only a two hour ride, but $25 FedEx overnight is cheaper than half a tank of diesel, especially now that is costs about $80 to fuel up.
I've been wanting this acro for a while. Now that I finally have a system that doesn't kill everything... time to stock up.
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
Very pretty piece! Im claiming dibs on a 1st frag! Ill drive my butt down there for sure! Afer this loooong drive down route 666 you’ve had i can only hope you did a few donuts on Murphy, backed over him once or twice for good measure and torched the carcass!
Edit: I suddenly feel doomed!
OP
OP
Hahaha, hopefully he doesn't come for an extended visit. I feel he has left from my residence tho. Got all kinds of warm fuzzies about the tank right now. I was iffy for the first week, but we're golden now. Almost at week number two being set up and everything is still level. The monti and two stylos are happy as can be, great color and crazy PE.
Only thing I NEED now is a replacement fuge light before I start growing algae in the wrong places. I'm thinking of the Kessil H80. I still have the H380, but without a dimmer switch it's just way to powerful for my refugium size. It needs to be spread over an area the size of my whole sump...
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
I was wondering why you were thinking of a different fuge light. Didnt realize there was no dimmer on that fixture. I have a slightly used H80 if you are interested? About three months of use.
OP
OP
My Eshopps Curve fuge works great at growing chaeto, but only sometimes now... It's a little intermittent since it was submerged in salt water. The only way to mount it puts it inside my Trigger sump, on top of the baffle. I've looked and when the return pump is off, it will be VERY close to being under water.
The H380 is on or off with a bloom and grow spectrum. At 12" above the water and about a 12" spread I measured over 2000 PAR with the Seneye. It would need to be mounted 24" over the water to dampen the PAR so it doesn't burn the chaeto. At that height, The spread would cover my entire 20"x20" sump. I have another use for that light in mind... no it's not illegal.
I'm trying to root some white nectarine trees from seed. (Peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots grow really well in SC. GA may be named "The Peach State," but SC actually grows more peaches. Take that GA...) They are in the garage fridge in some soil right now for a few months to see if they'll root, then I'll take them out and under the H380 they go in my office over winter. I'm hoping they will be big enough by spring to plant outside with a tree stake.
Yea, I know... all my 60+ year old neighbors will think that 30 something whipper snapper is growing the mary iguanas in his house. The blue glow from the living room probably has some suspicions already...
Send me a PM on that H80... I'm interested!
Tmm87
Well-Known Member
I really like my H80. I just wish I could actually get some decent growth out of my macro algae. My chaeto always melts and my red gracilaria is just existing.
OP
OP
Cut your skimmer back, or even off. I wouldn't do it all at once tho. My plan is to try and get the fuge to take over most of the nutrient uptake. I pulled the sock out of the sump and put the black foam bubble trap in it's place. It'll still catch some large debris but most of the small particles should pass thru to the fuge where the shrimp will eat and it can break down for the chaeto to absorb.
Gracilaria is awesome, I had some in a display fuge experiment. Very pretty macro.
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
Ive also heard folks have success dosing iron to keep the chaeto growing tho never tried it myself. Pax Bellum sells a Nitrate/Molybedium and Iron supplement kit to go along woth their reactors.
OP
OP
I'll have to get a photo of the dense ball of chaeto I have in a 10g with just that Eshopps light over it. Just light, water and fish food. The coral beauty is still living in there for now. I need to go take her to the LFS for credit. Beautiful fish, loves to eat SPS...
I did snatch this out of my chaeto. Broke in two when I pulled it out. The coral banded shrimp is supposed eat these guys... but I'd rather try and keep them out of the tank if I can. Ugly things, I'll keep my asterina starfish for detritus.
I did snatch this out of my chaeto. Broke in two when I pulled it out. The coral banded shrimp is supposed eat these guys... but I'd rather try and keep them out of the tank if I can. Ugly things, I'll keep my asterina starfish for detritus.
OP
OP
Time for a Turtle road trip to Pensacola, FL?
A pintail is on my fish list, and $100 is tempting, but I'm pretty sure it would probably be cheaper to buy the $300 supermale from LADD... 14-16mpg on the interstate and diesel is around $3.00 a gallon at the truck stops. I got it for $2.86 in town today(pump stopped me at $75 right before the tank was all the way full) but that's the cheapest I've seen around. I have no idea what fuel costs on the way, it's never cheaper tho.
It's like how I get coral shipped over night from Charleston, two hours away. $25 for FedEx or $40 in my truck plus four hours of drive time. That's four hours I can sit on the couch in my pjs.
OP
OP
Chaeto!!!
Oh, and Smiley... yep, coraline grows under a 9w LED. Slowly, but it grows.
This setup is so simple its almost fool proof. Just have to remember to manually top off. Its my quarantine tank, when I have fish that need to be quarantined. Its really dirty right now, loose chaeto and a little sand, rock dust and detritus on the bottom. The filtration is a cheap suction cup in tank power filter with just a mechanical filter with carbon thats about 3 months old or so, and a sponge filter. Chaeto does all the work, really. I feed a pinch of pellet food a day. Honestly I was just hoping to keep the chaeto from dying too fast, instead its growing super dense and dark green.
The coral beauty... so beautiful I wish I could keep it, but it nips sps. Good bye polyp extension, and most likely will more than just nip on montipora. I really wish this one turned out to be reef safe. Pictures do it no justice, when she hits the light the blue is the prettiest cobalt you've ever seen and the edges of her fins are trimmed in a slighty lighter blue.
View attachment 20180715_072243.jpg
View attachment 20180715_072240.jpg
Oh, and Smiley... yep, coraline grows under a 9w LED. Slowly, but it grows.
This setup is so simple its almost fool proof. Just have to remember to manually top off. Its my quarantine tank, when I have fish that need to be quarantined. Its really dirty right now, loose chaeto and a little sand, rock dust and detritus on the bottom. The filtration is a cheap suction cup in tank power filter with just a mechanical filter with carbon thats about 3 months old or so, and a sponge filter. Chaeto does all the work, really. I feed a pinch of pellet food a day. Honestly I was just hoping to keep the chaeto from dying too fast, instead its growing super dense and dark green.
The coral beauty... so beautiful I wish I could keep it, but it nips sps. Good bye polyp extension, and most likely will more than just nip on montipora. I really wish this one turned out to be reef safe. Pictures do it no justice, when she hits the light the blue is the prettiest cobalt you've ever seen and the edges of her fins are trimmed in a slighty lighter blue.
View attachment 20180715_072243.jpg
View attachment 20180715_072240.jpg
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