48ish gallon bow--from ugh to ooh (I hope)

[sharuq1]

New tank member introduced today. Cute little dragon sifter (AMBLYGOBIUS PHALAENA, I think) given to me by dustinjm (thank you! ). Will post a pic soon as I get one (he is still setling in). Hopefully he will get along with the other tank mates in my display. Really like him, looks like one of those "personality" fish, fun to watch.

[sharuq1]

Here are some more critter pictures for those who like them, and as promised pics of the goby

[dsaundry]

Are you still having issues with the algae?

[sharuq1]

So far the only places showing gha that continues to be a nuisance are on the gsp and candy cane coral that came with the tank. Unfortunately I cannot boil the gha off a coral. Have added an AC110 refugium with chaeto to try and export nutrients as best I can and also try and manually take the gha off the 2 infested corals.

I guess we shall see what it looks like in another three months.

So much waiting in this hobby, hehe

[sharuq1]

Forgot to include a top-down shot of the gbta. He is in the back so this as as close as I can get to him. (Really not interested in getting him to move at this point, he isn;t hurting anything where he is) I did not have any problem with him attaching when I added him to the tank. He was on the rock he came on and the next morning he had found a spot. So far clowns are hosting a spice jar and not him, which is good because he is very tiny. Like around 2"

His bubbles come out very nicely at different times during the day. (Didn't catch them nicely on the photo though).

[dsaundry]

You may want to try to borrow or buy a sea hare. I couldnt believe it when I got one. Like a lawnmower on hair algae. I also used an aquaclear 500 with some rowaphos in it as well. Results were great in about 3 days.

[michika]

A pair of tweezers work well for getting GHA off of corals.

[sharuq1]

Update:

We have decided to do what we had always planned with our drilled 120g and upgrade. The upgrade will take place probably in two months or so.

The bow is a bit crowded now with a couple new additions, but should be fine for only the couple months they will be in there:
-signal goby
-cleaner wrasse

Was watching the tank today and I think it is just so cool how well fed these fish are. The spice jar idea feeds pretty muchall fish in the tank and everything is fat and healthy. I never feed anything sprinkling it over the water any more, the fish come and go from the "station" as they please, and it is emptied by them 1-2 times per day.

I cannot get over how lucky I feel having a lawnmower blenny, cleaner wrasse and sand-sifting type gobies that all choose to eat NLS (and decap brine shrimp eggs, everyone's favorite). The cleaner wrasse has also joined in on the fun. My fish teach the new additions how to get the "smorgasbord". The mandarin also eats from the jars when he decides to, but he isn't the brightest crayon in the box if you know what I mean.

After reading about problems people have had getting certain fish to eat I think it is just ever so cool.

As a side note the birdsnest frag has colored up nicely (it looked rather bleached/browned prior). Yellowish/bronzeish with bronzeish purplish polyps.

I seem to have no luck with that pretty red macro, it is in pieces and I cannot get it to stay put or grow :'( also no luck getting my new xenia frag to attach. Used fishing line and glue and it still got away so I locked him in a clear box and glued mesh to the top of it so he couldn't get away and run himself through the powerhead or get stuck somewhere...hopefully it will attach to the rock that is in there instead of the box...but knowing me and xenia...:P yeah....