Budget doesn't exist in this hobby: Brian's 45g Build

[Etaloche]

Was sold a faulty PC4 module a while back and had some troubles contacting the seller for a bit, but finally got a hold of him and got it all worked out. Instead of a $50 refund I opted to grab this scoly for $20 more.
I've always wanted a scoly but the expensive price deterred me from getting one. $70 is the best price I'm ever going to get for a scoly this size so I couldn't pass up the offer.

The long transit and dip stressed it quite a bit and it lost a bit of color


3 days later and couple feedings did it wonders but colors are still faded a bit. Hoping that more of the orange takes over and it will be a stunning piece of coral! I'm very excited about this purchase


Right after that Anthony invited me over to see of his new corals and fish he got for a great price (what a showoff! )
I love going over to his place and always seeing something new despite his famous last words "I can't add any more to my tanks"

He handed me this candy cane which wasn't doing too well in his tank in hopes that a new environment could bring some life back to it


It was looking a lot better the morning after so I have high hopes for it. If it can recover it will be an awesome addition to my tank as I don't have anything nearly as big as this yet.


Couple of days later it's still showing good signs of recovery. I'll be working hard to bring this one back to good health!


And by working hard I mean staring at it for hours on end


Anthony also shared some frags of the big zoa colonies he picked up

I don't remember the name of this one...


Fire and ice, someone give me some good tips on how to take better photos please. These photos are just dang awful

[coolhandgoose]

Nice scoly. Hope it colours up for you.
Lots of algae going on there
Candy canes are the one coral that's bullet proof in my tank so I'm sure it will come back around nicely for you.

[mrhasan]

For the CC, put it in a low flow low area light. They recover miraculously when they are not getting blasted with light or flow.

Impressive progress

[Etaloche]

Originally Posted by coolhandgoose

Nice scoly. Hope it colours up for you.
Lots of algae going on there
Candy canes are the one coral that's bullet proof in my tank so I'm sure it will come back around nicely for you.

Ya I added a whole bunch of livestock in the past few weeks and my feeding hand got a bit heavy cause I got so excited
Just did a 10% WC yesterday and lots of manual removal of algae. Doesn't help that the weather almost went up 10 degrees in the past week and lots more sunlight coming through even though I live in a basement.
Still learning the ins and outs of algae control.

Originally Posted by mrhasan

For the CC, put it in a low flow low area light. They recover miraculously when they are not getting blasted with light or flow.

Impressive progress

Oh ok, I just moved it to the lowest flow part of my tank which happens to be a low light area as well. Fingers crossed now. Lawnmower blenny keeps picking at the algae on the tips and making it retract ugh.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

The zoas are called Green Bay Packers or Boy Scouts, depending on whether you follow NFL football or not, I guess. If the candycanes survive, they're yours.

[Etaloche]

I've been fragging all my zoas when I first get them so that I always start with just 4-5 heads. I just wanted to see growth pattern and speed of their growth individually.
The idea is also to have one of my rock evenly spread with different kinds of zoas.

Anyways, I traded in all my small frags for this open brain coral. I didn't get the one I wanted because it was sold 2 days after I decided I wanted it
Anthony told me to always ask to have the coral you want on hold from now on. Will definitely take on that advice from now.

Still very happy with this one, has awesome splashes of colors.


I noticed yesterday that my firefish has developed a bit of a cloudy eye on one side. After some research I've narrowed it down to some possibilities: physical damage like scratches, internal parasitic infection, or bacterial infection.
I couldn't really get a clear photo but will try to. I have a QT tank setup but haven't been able to catch the fish.
Not ready to tear down my scape and decided to keep an eye on him for couple more days. Planning to add a UV in case it's an infection. Any other advice?

Could be related but I added a springer's damsel to my tank last week who disappeared in a single night. I assumed my pistol shrimp got to it and ate it.
Maybe it was carrying some sort of disease... I really hope not but I'm prepared to act on it in case it was.

[Etaloche]

Had to whip out the DSLR to get somewhat decent photo of the eye

The cloudy left eye, hard to tell but it has a slight hazey area right in the middle.


Right eye seems completely clear and will give better contrast to what I'm talking about in the left eye.