Myka's 90 gallon build & 3 province move (Pics Feb 6)

[Myka]

Thanks for the comments.

Karazy...they ain't cheap!

[Delphinus]

Not a huge fan of shrooms but I'm kinda digging them blue rics.

[Leah]

Myka the tank is amazing I love how you have aquascaped it is just beautiful.
Have you added sand yet or are you still planning on it. Your photo's are great, BTW
come teach me

[Myka]

Tony, Rics don't count as mushrooms!! Not in my books anyway! I just need a colony of neon green Rics, and then my collection will be complete. Same as Zoas, just a few select colors. I just picked up a micro colony (of 4 lol) of these neon speckled orange Zoas. Really cool. I also have about a dozen or so of the blue Zoas from Red Coral. now I need some green ones.

Karazy, don't worry the rock is all zip tied, and very solid. It's structurally sound without sand, so it should hold up to jawfish digging no problem.

Thanks Leah! I actually just added sand today. I bought way too much, which is usually the opposite...I usually don't buy enough.

I bought some nice rubble-sized live rock pieces. My idea was to create some areas of deep 3" sand for the jawfish, so I used rubble to create some walls to hold the sand back. The rest of the tank only has 1" of sand. I used 45 lbs Caribsea Select, and about 10lbs out of a bag of Caribsea Super Reef which is larger stuff with lots of shells. I used the Super Reef to put a layer on top of the deeper spots for the jawfish. They should enjoy having the bigger pieces to pack around. This is the first time in a decade I have used more than 2" of sand in any part of the tank, so I'm a bit nervous about it! I hope I don't come to regret it, but I think with a colony of jawfish they should keep it well churned preventing rotten areas of Hydrogen sulfide.

I think I managed to create what I set out to do with the sand, shells, and rubble. I rinsed the sand VERY well before adding it. I initially wet it with RODI water so the sand would soak up RODI, then used the hose (with tap water) to rinse the sand very, very thoroughly. Then I rinsed again with RODI, then rinsed with tank water. I don't like using tap water on the sand at all, but I have no way to pressure up the RODI to get a good rinsing. I put some filter media on the intakes of the powerheads to catch the silt, and the tank cleared up fairly well 3 hours after adding the Select, but then I made the barriers with the rubble, scooped the Super Reef into the tank, and properly fogged it back up! It's half cleared up again now, but I probably won't be able to get any pics until tomorrow. I'm guessing it will take a few days or even a week to achieve perfect clarity though.

I have been trying to get some photos of a Lobo I added a couple weeks ago that has really colored up. It fluoresces so much though that I can't seem to get the camera settings right, and it turns out looking funny.

Anyway, here's the orange speckled Zoas from Bayside. I took the pic only an hour after I put them in the tank, so they aren't open all the way:




This Nephthea (also from Bayside) is growing like a weed:




I also got a decent pic of "Findiglo" (Fin-indigo-glow har har so lame):

[Navarchus]

OMG!!!!

[Myka]

They are wicked now that they are fully open!

[karazy]

those zoas are awesome. they look like Darth mauls almost.

i wanna see pics of how this grand sand plan turned out.

[karazy]

Originally Posted by Myka

Karazy...they ain't cheap!

you got that right. but they are soo nice.
i think that your jawfish colony idea sounds wicked in a reef tank. i hope it works out for you (make sure they wont get squished by rocks!)