My Very First Journal - Gina's 150 gallon upgrade

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by msjboy

Nice set of torch corals,,! Have you seen these at coral farms? Wild colors you might consider.

Ive seen the torches on coral farms website and how photoshopped they are i have the ones their selling all ready. They just look different under real light.

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

Decent set up, looks good so far, I didn't have time to carefully read so sorry if you already posted but was wondering what LEDs you are running?

Hey Chris,

Haven't seen you around in awhile.

I ordered my lights directly from China again.
2 x Malibu S300.
I swapped the premade layout around a little and added a bit more deep blue instead of light blue (well I had them do it) I just havent gotten to play around with them long enough to know what settings I like yet.

[Coasting]

I'm sitting here trying to figure out what I want to add for fish to the tank...

I need good sturdy fish that can handle butt faced fish.
I'm thinking wrasses.... Not sure why but Coris and Halichoeres really peak my interest. My Formosa and Melanurus are pretty awesome fish, but that being said, any new fish had to handle the Melanurus attitude.

J&L has a Black Stripe Coris (yellowstripe coris) I didn't see it last time so not sure on its size. Their 4 spot yellows were way too tiny. Well see what they get in with the shipment they list coming in tomorrow I guess. Anyone have experience with the Blackstripes?

[tang daddy]

Cool I was just reading up on these lights on rc I guess the earlier models had some issues and apparently customer service for warranty sucked but the newer units with wifi control seem to be more reliable... I just ordered an led fixture from another manufacture... Too bad I didn't see this one oh wells...

[Coasting]

Well I still cant figure out what I'm doing with my camera. I swear I used to be good at photos....

Tank is doing well. Getting a good amount of diatoms on the dry rock, but the tangs, butterfly, blenny, and oddly the damsel are LOVING it.

I think I'm happy with my stocking list. All the new fish are doing fantastic.
I'm at
Original 7:
2 Clowns
1 yellowtail damsel
1 Formosa wrasse
1 melanurus wrasse
1 sailfin blenny
1 lyretail anthias
New:
1 Sailfin tang
1 Kole tang
1 Black stripe wrasse
1 vagabond butterfly
6 red fairy anthias
1 Spanish hogfish

At this point everyone is getting along. The Melanurus has stopped trying to kill the butterfly and has calmed down and is being 'normal' now. Butterflys wounds are healing well, his 1 eye is still cloudy/scarred but no longer swollen looking. The hogfish was annoying the butterfly to no end by trying to clean his owies haha.

The Sailfin was a bit on the thin side when he came home, but he ate well at the store so I figured why not, and he was within the cheaper price range at that size LOL. But he is fattening up nicely! And really coming out of his shell. The Kole on the other hand.... is getting FAT, any more and I will be calling him obese.... he is a pig. He has claimed the right half of the tank and will chase off the blenny if he catches him on that side of the tank.

The butterfly is doing well coral wise. He is a voracious algae eater, and only tries to eat really fleshy corals like the Open Brain. But he is too smart for me. I spent the last week trying to catch him, but he is totally impossible.... other then the blenny he was the only fish that refused to get into the trap. I could have caught all the others 100x over.
Between the black stripe that woke up trapped under the pop bottle, and the hog fish who got stuck in the plastic fish holder and couldn't figure out how to swim out.... I have a tank full of really stupid fish... The butterfly just puts them all to shame

My Lyretail anthias has stopped hiding, after a day with the new anthias in the tank he is out swimming around with them and everyones getting along. The new guys had a few squabbles with each other the first few hours in the tank that I broke up with my steel pokey stick, but all is good now.

[Reef Pilot]

I like your butterfly fish. I miss mine.

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

I like your butterfly fish. I miss mine.

It's your fault I have one

Was hoping to get an Orange Pearlscale after we saw yours, but settled for one that was listed as potentially reef safe lol whoops. He's pretty good for a butterfly I must say. He more annoys other corals by picking at what he thinks is algae on them. So I am still on the fence for next time I go back to my tank.... Do I continue to try and catch him? or do I sell off the remaining brain coral and stick with butterfly safe corals LOL

[Coasting]

I always found mushrooms super easy to peel off the rock with a fingernail so I never had an issue with that :P
So i hope he doesnt eat my mushrooms, I only have nice vibrent ones in the tank haha.

When I was trying to decide what butterfly to get at the store some, of the species descriptions did say they ate softies and mushrooms... as well as everything else lol "worst of all butterflys to get". Cant rember what one that was though. I went with the vagabond as he was on a list that gave him more potential to be reef safe.

[Reef Pilot]

Next time I buy some butterflys, maybe next fall, I am going to try train them to eat mushrooms in my QT. I found before that when you first get them, they will eat corals, aiptasia, etc, before being trained to be fat and happy on regular fish food. So if I keep feeding them a rock with mushrooms in the QT, maybe they won't lose the taste for them. It worked with aiptasia.

I've had no luck with peeling, scraping, aiptasia X, and other efforts. The mushrooms disappear deep into a small hole in the rock, and then a couple weeks later start reappearing. I have way too many now, and they are killing my SPS. Reminds me of when I first inherited this tank, and was full of aiptasia, too many to get rid of manually. But the butterflys did the job, although took them a few months. So that is my best hope at the time,... other than throwing out all my rock and starting over. I have already tried everything else that has been suggested or that I know of.

[Coasting]

Well tank seems to be doing good.
Corals are growing
Fish are growing (and getting a bit fat....)
I still don't have a proper sump
Got a shiny new skimmer which is massive, and has made the idea of putting a 50gal sump under the tank impossible. Went with the Coral Box Cloud 9. It does an awesome job. Hell, better then the vertex did. And its quiet! It's just huge LOL.

I still haven't gotten around to testing my water, or setting up my doser.... yup lazy.

The butterfly has stopped going at any corals. But I am still not risking putting the open brain back in the tank, I might be brave and try one in the winter. He is a great algae grazer along with the tangs, loves squid and clam.

Hogfish kinda look funny.... like they wear lipstick

Ive got 2 rocks that I've tied fishing line too, with a rubber band wrapped around a few times. We've been attaching pieces of garlic soaked clam, squid, muscle, octopus, etc.... so they can "graze". Everyone's pretty good about sharing, no fights. I'm not used to having fish that crowd the glass when they think their going to get fed! This is new! It's nice actually being able to enjoy watching everyone.

The Melanurus is still behaving himself. It's nice finally being able to get photos of him. Previously if you walked anywhere near the tank he would hide at the back and not come out until you were far away. Now he doesn't shy away at all.

The Kole is a bit of a turd to the blenny, but only when the blenny crosses over to the right side of the tank. Heard there can sometimes be tiffs between those film algae grazers. My blenny is my only fish that was in my original 26g bowfront. He has been through all 3 tanks.

Within the last month my Formosa has started loosing her white stripes! Their slowly fading. They stayed the same all the while in the old tank. Now in the new one everyone is growing and maturing. Facial markings are almost completely gone. And the middle body one is as well. We'll see how long until shes a solid burgundy. Maybe the black stripe will loose her belly stripes soon as well.

My Lyretail is doing well with the red fairys. I did loose one about 2 weeks ago but that's to be expected I guess. Everyone else is happy and healthy. The Lyretail is getting slightly darker, waiting for that nice redish colour!

I still cant get proper photos of the coral. Colours suck. But I can finally get a photo of the damsel that isn't purple!