albert_dao's 2012 Nano Contest Entry

[albert_dao]

Tested the water last night and this morning with NH4 readings at zero. Bacterial bloom has largely subsided, so I've gone ahead and added the anemones (which were stinging all of my Zoas in my frag tank).

Clubby Anemone:




Tube Anemones:










Full Tank Shot



Now I just need to wait for them to settle in. Hopefully they'll stay where I put them.

As you can see from picture, I am in sore need of a feature or focal point to draw the eyes. The club tentacled anemone doesn't count since it will, in all likelihood, move under one of the rocks. I'm thinking I'll plant that Gorgonian in the center at the end of this week to address this situation.

Other than that, I've decided that I will use brittle stars instead of Nassarius as a clean up crew for the time being. They won't disrupt the sandbed and allow the anemones to properly settle. I'll take a second look at the snails once the anemones have erected their tubes.

Questions and critiques welcomed!

[albert_dao]

Here's a quick update of the Club Tipped Anemone:



Looks like he's going to holding ground where I put him. His buddy should recover shortly also, I accidentally tore the poor guy's foot when I was prying them off the rocks they were attached to.

[fishoholic]

Cool that anemone is pretty

[riceboy]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

Here's a quick update of the Club Tipped Anemone:



Looks like he's going to holding ground where I put him. His buddy should recover shortly also, I accidentally tore the poor guy's foot when I was prying them off the rocks they were attached to.

this anemone looks awesome i wish i could get hitch hikers like this instead of aiptasia and clove polyps lol

[nanoreefnewbie]

wow this tank is moving alone nicely

[reefwars]

a post has been made in all the contest forumns regarding contest rules via the timeline, everyone should read this post as there seems to be some confusion.

[albert_dao]

Today's update:

Did a test this morning. NH4 was at 0ppm, NO3 was barely detectable and PO4's were barely detectable. Go Zeostart3!

I also moved the Club Tipped Anemones under a rock shelter since they weren't expanding as big as was use to seeing them. That seems to have improved their condition.

Full tank shots (I changed the white balance on my camera while taking pictures of other subjects and forgot to reset it, hence the crazy blueness - sorry about that):










Here's a side view where you can see where I put the anemones:




You may have also noticed that I added another rock to the tank. Staring at the set up for a while, I felt that the balance between negative space, hardscape and animals was off balance. In my initial posts, I was hoping to address this by adding a gorgonian to the center. However, that would not be at least for another month or so and this was something that was irking me NOW.

Later on, I will be going back to my original plan and throwing in a few feather dusters to fill in any "odd" looking gaps. That should get rid of all the odd looking and clearly artificial gaps in the placement of the rocks.

Lastly, I have access to a couple of Mini Carpets. What say all y'all? Should I try them out? Or do you think it would dilute the composition? Right now, I'm leaning towards the latter, but apparently, there are points to be awarded for "diversity", lol.

Thanks for looking!

[nanoreefnewbie]

Wow that is a quick cycle tank is looking great