Well it won't be so bad now... I have a decent collection going, so if all goes well and they grow well I'll end up having to frag some, at which point I'll likely be able to offload some locally, since by then a bunch of people will have seen my awesome tank and will want some corals of their own :wink:

Yes I have it all planned out. No I don't think this hobby can be self supporting (if you live anywhere near an LFS) but I'll sure try to make it pay for itself :lol:

Today the open brain ate some mysis and was very puffy... it's amazing how big these guys can expand, and I don't think it was expanded as far as it could either. It has a fair amount more red on it when extended like that also... I'll try and grab a pic tomorrow if it looks good again.

The orange zoas still haven't opened and I thought that the green palys looked a little bleached from being so close to the light, so I moved both of them into darker areas. The orange/blue/green zoa frag and the green mushroom moved for aesthetic reasons.

Both fish were visible today, so I think I'll start seeing more of both of them.

Brain ate lots of mysis! :biggrin: As did the firefish (which today is out and about) and I think I caught the goby with some in his mouth too.

Even if all the polyps stay brown (and the orange zoas never open) I'm extremely happy with my tank. Everything I bought seems to be doing well (though the first week isn't over) and my tank looks great.

I have a FTS with both fish in view that I'll upload later.

Everyone loves fishes!

FTS with fishes:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/011.jpg

Fishes together... this takes a lot of effort but seems to be worth it, this is my favourite shot of the day.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/021.jpg

A few more...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/023.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/022.jpg

They swim together a lot. No aggression, the Hector's Goby seems to act as a dither fish for the firefish.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/019.jpg

Apollo by himself...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/012.jpg

And Toby sifting sand...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/014.jpg



Enjoy the pics, I enjoyed taking them :biggrin:

Tanks looking good:biggrin:
I can see some real potential in those zoos.
And I love that open brain, great colour.

Thanks man, I'm renaming this project since it doesn't look too Ghetto anymore. Needs something more appropriate.

Which zoas are you talking about, the small brown ones with the red ring on the purple rock? Or the large pink streaked ones (that I thought were actually Palys, but the polyps aren't connected)? Those pink ones are probably going to be amazing in a month or so, I'm not sure about the brown ones (though there are some tentacley green ones near the top of that rock that will look pretty cool once colored up), they might actually be brown. Time will tell, I'm really happy with it right now and it can only get better, right?

I keep thinking I need to take my rocks out and scrub them, but I like the turf covering the rocks, it means the rocks are soft and won't damage fishes, and it is helping to make the Hector's Goby fat. I've noticed that the Purple Firefish looks full all the time also, even hours after feeding time... I think he may be eating free floating pods, as he seems to be picking them off the glass as well. The firefish has staked a territory under the arch from 'Phase One' (as I'm calling the original rockscape), which allows him access to the overhang on the left hand side of the large rock from that scape. He gets pushy with the goby at the front entrance, but is otherwise unaggressive (except for some occasional posturing). Brain coral ate a bunch again today but might be bleaching a little, I'll be keeping an eye on the 'bleached spots' to see for sure... In the mean time, here's a pic for you Canuck (since you like the open brain ;) ...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/007.jpg

Mmm tentacles :lol:

Thats a sweet brain....I dont see any bleaching of colour, mind you I'm certainly no expert on LPS.

You can't really see it well in the pic, but there were a few yellowing spots on the uppermost parts of the coral. They got progressively yellower over the next 3 days, so I moved him. He now resides very close to the glass on the far left corner... fully expanded and looking hungry today, I'm glad because three rocks fell on him when I rescaped.

FTS... I scrubbed and smashed the Florida rock because I was tired of looking at brown fur. Looks much cleaner, hopefully the rocks turn green and purple now rather than going brown, I think the brown was dead stuff from the Bryopsis days.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/023-1.jpg

The firefish is pretty aggressive for an unaggressive fish ;) He keeps the goby in line but doesn't seem to do more than take a run at him once in a while. If I add any more fish to this tank it will have to be something that can hold it's own when coming into a tank of established territories. Goby has a little round belly so I know he's getting enough food... the firefish has cleared the water column of any swimming beings and always looks full.

The orange zoas are likely done for, I fragged the colony so I could try putting a few in different places. One polyp may survive, it looks sort of half open. Everything else looks good, I'd say my shopping was a success!

Thanks so much, everyone that helped me out in the stores, Thanks Red Coral, Elite, and Gold!

Zoas can be moody. For no reason they look like death's door and after a few days they look as fine as ever.

Grrr, just when thing are going great... and also, just when you think they're over for good...

So I lost both zoa frags behind the rockwork since they aren't glued down (I'll be tracking some sort of glue down this weekend). This necessitated moving the rocks to retrieve them... and then I couldn't make the rocks fit the same, so I needed to rescape.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/001-6.jpg

I like this the best yet and everything is more stable than before. The frags reside on the front sandbed for the moment. Green palys are putting on another bud, everyone is eating well and looking good (the open brain eats greedily every day and doesn't seem to be regurgitating at night, score! :biggrin: ). Things looked so good after cleaning the glass (and missing a spot) and the water change that I decided that I will be doing more frequent water changes... the old water was slightly yellow, probably since I feed relatively heavily for a 10 gallon. Things looked so good, though, that I decided to make a FTS video.

Oh yeah I keep forgetting... the orange zoas are recovering and at least one polyp from each frag is opening now.

My tank has come alive...

I've suddenly noticed some new growth on things (and things growing where there were none). The pink zoas are budding, with pink sponge growing on the back of their rock, and a bubbly looking red algae growing from the top. The blue algae on the red-ringed zoa rock has added some growth, as has some greenish brown ferny looking macro. There are fanworms everywhere... even a purple one on the Vanuatu rock, in a hollow. The back of the tank has covered itself with little calcareous spirals. There is a pineapple sponge growing near the top of the tank, where the flow from the filter moves across a rock. I saw my little Asterina star, he's grown 2 more legs (so now has 5). And an unidentified snail that I will post a pic of here when I figure out what he is.

I have a 5.5 gallon waiting to turn into a `fuge for this tank. In the process of figuring out how to work it... more to come on this.

Pics...

The snail has been IDed as a Stomatella... I thought these guys were small, this guy is almost an inch long fully extended!
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/053.jpg

FTS: about 2 hours ago.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/006-1.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/005-3.jpg

Happy brain coral...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/002-1.jpg

Miscellaneous coral pics... I finally got the frags mounted on individual rocks. No glue. This way they aren't attached to the live rock (well, on rubble pieces).
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/007-1.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/008-1.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/009.jpg

And Apollo. I tried to get a shot of Toby but the lights went off.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/004-1.jpg

Things looked really great after the water change yesterday, so I thought I'd share a few pictures.

FTS:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/035.jpg

I have another 10 gallon, a 5 gallon, and a 2 gallon Tupperware container that will be set up as a display 'fuge and 'nursery' tank, a 'bubble breaker' tank, and a CSD, respectively. I would like to add some of the easier SPS to this tank, but I'm not sure if SPS and the brain coral can coexist... I feed heavily since I really want him to do well. There are a few spots with somewhat turbulent flow on some of the higher spots in the tank, I would like to try them there. We'll see how things progress.

Pics!

I've been having trouble getting good pictures of these pink zoas. This is as close as I have come to getting a good representational photo of them. They are multiplying though :biggrin:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/017-1.jpg

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/018-2.jpg

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/019-1.jpg

I call these orange zoas 'Evan's orange zoas of wonder' :wink: They haven't started multiplying yet, but they have colored up.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/014-2.jpg

This macro, Dichtyota spp., popped up and has added some much needed color variety to the tank...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/005-4.jpg

Featherdusters of all colors and sizes are also making their home here.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/024.jpg

EDIT: OOO! I forgot this one (but it's just a texture shot of the Vanuatu rock).
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/025.jpg

:mrgreen:

So, over time a few of the pink zoas have shriveled and started looking 'moldy'. I moved them to a spot with a lot more flow and light a few days ago, in the hopes that whatever it is that is affecting that colony will work itself out... I have not been able to ID any of my zoas or palys, so I don't really know if they should be in low flow or high flow, low light or high light. All of the polyps are open and the flow from one of the filters runs right through the colony, and I have noticed some change in polyp size (to be fair, they are now basking around 4" from the MH bulb and I'm surprised that they have fared so well... no photoinhibition, so maybe they like high light?).

I fragged my green paly colony, ending up with a frag with 4 polyps, the original colony of 7 polyps, and a single polyp. I used a sharp knife to cut the mat where it was encrusted on rubble, but one of the polyps was sort of hanging in no man's land (just has a tiny chunk of rock it's encrusted to) so I have given it a place of it's own. Another couple months and I should have 3 nice little green colonies.

I also fragged some of the 'red ring' zoas (which might be a really small paly by the way the polyps look attached... just like the paly), and I discovered some of these same zoas attached to another rock, I lost these polyps a while back and now I discover them at the back of the tank :mrgreen: Sweet. These zoas will peel off the original colony rock with some work, since there seems to be coralline algae underneath the polyps. Strangely, they are also attached to each other quite strongly but didn't need to be cut apart. So, zoa or paly?

I've also been working on evenly bending plasic pipe. I need to make a 1.5" U tube to connect the 10 gallons together, and BAM!... instant fuge. I'll move some of the rock rubble from the rubble pile to that tank, and give it a scoop of sand (and some new sand). It will also get some new rock, and a 10K DIY MH, and some macroalgae. And not much else, maybe when the tank gets going Toby will move in.

No pictures yet, I haven't gotten that far :lol:

Some new pictures, from this afternoon at feeding time.

FTS:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/039.jpg

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/026.jpg

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/029.jpg

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/030.jpg

No idea what kind of algae this is, but it looks cool and only seems to be growing on the Vanuatu rock.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/031.jpg

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/033.jpg

Enjoy! I'm working on my continuous siphon overflow this weekend, so we'll see what comes of that :biggrin:

Oh almost forgot, I've dropped 4 hours from my photoperiod in the morning. I had a discussion with someone about my long photoperiod, and they've convinced me that I'll get better color on my corals with a shorter photoperiod. So, I'm running an experiment and we'll see what changes happen over the next few months. I want to add a DIY skimmer and a second tank to the system, mostly to increase stability since I plan to add some SPS soon.

Well... I'm not entirely happy with what I've done, but it's different and it will likely grow on me.

Front FTS:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/006-2.jpg

Side FTS:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/007-2.jpg

Back FTS:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/008-2.jpg

The 'sump'...
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/009-1.jpg

The 'overflow'... no more scum on the surface of my water, and the water level never changes :biggrin:
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...20reef/010.jpg

The 'scape took me a few days to come up with something that looked good and was stable. Again, not entirely happy with it... but who is totally satisfied with the way their tank looks :mrgreen:

Well, had some issues but everything looks like it will recover. The tank temp. dropped to 72 F a few days ago due to me forgetting to plug the heater back in after maintenance, though something was awry beforehand this can't have helped.

I also found some hitchhikers. I suspect this one to be majano, and if that's the case I have 2 of them.
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/006-5.jpg

And this is some type of stony coral hitchhiker. No idea about this one, any ideas?
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/u...reef/007-4.jpg

strawberry anemone?

Hmm, interesting, someone else suggested that the coral looks like sun coral... though I also originally thought of a strawberry 'nem when I first noticed them. Actually, they look like a cross between the two, sort of... but they definitely have a low lying skeleton fused to the rock, so definitely a stony coral of some kind.

Suspecting the anemones to be Aiptasia the more I look at them. I need to get some kalk powder :lol:

hey man tank is looking great there. when is the next time your in Brandon let me know. I should have some frags for ya if you are interested ok , i have about 40 different sps corals that you can choose from .

Don't forget you'll need a final pic for December 1, thats next Tuesday! :biggrin:

Final tank pic due tomorrow December 1st (if no final pic, the last FTS in this thread will be used).
:mrgreen: