Tank is looking fine!

Thanks, it's a Cubicus Boxfish :mrgreen:

So I'm looking into more fish that fit with my current tank mates, unfortunately all the information I can find is awfully close minded, kind of like this site. According to that almost every tank mate I already have or had for my seahorse has "no business in a seahorse tank".

If anyone has some suggestions I would love to hear them, keep in mind I have a dwarf lionfish so I think smaller fish like gobies should be avoided, however I do have a small mandarin so... maybe not.

I currently have:
Seahorse
Fu-Man-Chu Lionfish
Boxfish
Blue Streak Pipefish
Green Spotted Mandarin
Engineer Goby

The problem you will find with most seahorse tankmates is the competition for food. Seahorses almost need to get know thier food before they eat it. I have witnessed the ponies staring at the food for a full minute before they snick it. When you have tankmates that eat food like most of our fish do.... FAST... then there is nothing left for the ponies to eat. And then of course there are fish that accually cause a risk to the horses.

Yes I know, I've had my horse for close to a year now. When I feed I shut off all flow and target feed mysis using tongs. I'm looking for fish that will adapt to this kind of feeding, all my current fish do this quite well. Any suggestions from experience would be awesome.

Couple more pics, I took a week off for some R&R so no actual work was done but I did add a few additions.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/DSC_3963.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/DSC_3969.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/DSC_3974.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/DSC_3989.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/DSC_3991.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...k/DSC_3993.jpg

Beautiful shots! I LOVE the ones of the pipefish in the clam. I made one my desktop background :biggrin:

I dont know whats better. The actual tanks inhabitants or the fantastic photography.


:D

steve the pipe fish are they hard to keep. would love to get acouple for my tank .

They are not very difficult to keep, I think they will do better in a tank you can easily feed them but I have seen them many times in regular reef tanks. They will find their own food in the tank but I`m not sure how long that will provide for them. Others might have more relevant experience for you.

eeeeek the dreaded Valonia!!! horrible stuff

I've never found it to be that bad, I've always had some here and there but an urchin or two has always kept it under control.

new FTS? Looks like a paint factory exploded in there it's so bright and varied. I love it! You're inspiring me to try some stranger fish. That pipefish for starters is so rad.

I haven't added any new corals or changed the aquascaping since the last FTS so it wouldn't be very interesting. I'll probably do a little work this week so I should have a better update a little later. Thanks!

Great colors! Looking nice! :)

I saw some of those critters... :p

Might be a little while before I get anymore updates on the tank, I found something else to waist money on :lol:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/DSC_4001.jpg

AUG 15th Update
 

Nothing too interesting but I organized all the electrical

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...A_Aug15_15.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...A_Aug15_16.jpg

Next to come is a new sump followed by the exterior stand cover.

I also added a few new things including a puffer and a tasseled filefish. Here's a few general pictures:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_6.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...A_Aug15_14.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...A_Aug15_13.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...AQUA_Aug15.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...A_Aug15_11.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_2.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_3.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_4.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_7.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_8.jpg

and a new FTS

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...UA_Aug15_9.jpg

Beautiful tank and cool fish.

Looks great! Amazing pieces .Do you think the clams add a substantial impact to the health of your tank?

Nice bimmer! :) I have 1 too. I like the tank so far it looks really good! do the sps not sting the horsies? How much flow do you have in there right now? I really like your choice on fish thats something like i wanted to do but was told it cant be done lol.

Thanks! Possibly but I think my skimmer does most the work.

Sweet which one? I haven't noticed a problem with any corals and the seahorse, but it doesn't hang onto the sps corals very often and when it does they don't seem to bother him. I have two Tunzes but they alternate and pulse to prevent hard steady flows and they turn down in the evening. I'm currently using a quiet one 4000 until my RD arrives which will be plumbed into the two outputs instead of just the one.
I was going for something different so I'm glad you like it, everyone gets alone fine, if you're a little careful with the species and size selection it's pretty easy to do.

I've been pretty lazy with some of my photos so I'm going to make it up with a few good ones, here's the first of a few to come.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...08/Chalice.jpg

I have a E46 M3. Sucks that winter is coming up soon going to have to park it for the winter soon :(. Yeah i definitely like what youve got going on there it looks like everything is pretty happy what type of fish do you have in there?

FuManChu Lionfish
Engineer Goby
Porcupine Puffer
Matted Filefish
Tasseled Filefish
Reidi Brazilian Seahorse
Green Spotted Mandarin
Blue Streak Pipefish
Dragon Pipefish

New FTS is so beautiful! Water looks pristine too. What's that purple SPS up top? A Stylo? I really need to learn my names...if even the common ones.

Thanks, yes it's a stylo.

Got a couple more
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...02008/Tort.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...008/Dendro.jpg

Mind boggling pics as per usual Steve.


Very nice.

simply awesome. i really want to do an oddball reef one day.

Do you edit out background etc in photoshop? These look fantastic. Some of them have that electron microscope look.

Yes, my macros usually come out with very dark backgrounds and I usually change them to be completely black or some kind of gradient, I find the effect is better and the background is less distracting. They were all taken with a 105mm macro lens. Thanks! :mrgreen:

wow nice! how hard is it to keep tilefish? i may want to try them in my seahorse tank. Right now i have a pair of kudas, dragon pipefish, and 2 clownfish (interesting story behind these two).

The tilefish I have are easy which I hear is pretty normal. The tasseled eats algae and they both eat mysis like pigs, almost too much for my slow little seahorse.

Couple more

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...02008/SPS1.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...02008/lion.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...2008/stylo.jpg

WOW! Sounds like a nice lens. Nikon? Lucky guy the guy who owns that lens ;)

Those last 3 are seriously among the nicest and most stylin' shots I've seen yet from this site or that other one! That lens is so nice...thankfully my father-in-law has it so I can borrow until I'm not a broke ass.

Last one is pure FIREWORKS.

Haha, i think the guy that gets to use it without actually buying it is slightly luckier, or maybe luck has nothing to do with it :mrgreen:

Thanks, I was trying something a little different on the last two, glad you liked them.

Update
 

It's been a while but thought I'd post a little update.

Last week I introduced a clam from another tank. The clam spawned in the previous owners tank and was becoming an issue so I removed it. I didn't want to destroy it since it was a large clam and only doing what is natural to it. I left the clam in a large bucket for a few hours and with no signs of spawning I figured it would safe to put the clam in my tank. All was well for the first hour until my other somewhat large squamosa started spawning, then the new clam started up again. Within minutes all my clams except the large gigas were spawning :shocked!:. The tank was pure white but I let the clams finish and then filtered out the sperm and eggs with mechanical media and wet skimming, needless to say :puke:. Two 25% water changes later and the tank was clear with no casualties.

Since I already told the boss I couldn't come into work because I needed to filter the sperm out of my fish tank I decided to get a little work done. Nothing like a little disaster to get you motivated :wink:

So I reaquascaped and made better room for the new clam.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../Oct2009_5.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../Oct2009_4.jpg

I also later installed my new pump :mrgreen: and finished up the plumbing I started so long ago. I put in a new larger tank for a sump to handle the extra flow from the new pump. I'm going to add a few things to the sump to better incorporate some mechanical media, carbon and a steady water level for the skimmer but that's it. Still going the simple route.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../Oct2009_2.jpg

Hope you enjoyed the little update, I obviously still have a lot of work to do but winter is long and summer is short. Priorities will change soon enough :wink:

Those large clams are just awesome. I hope one day I can find one for my tank (or grow one!). The tank looks great and man, that is one of the cleanest most organized sump cabinets I have ever seen! :biggrin:

I dig the red zip ties to hold your plumbing together.....matches your Bubble King!

haha thanks! I was planning on painting all the plumbing red, it can all be removed with unions, but it's one of those things I haven't done yet :redface: