Squishie's 90g FOWLR

Squishie89 · Nov 30, 2012

Someone suggested Ebony and Ivory and the names are growing on me. I think I need to get a better feel for who these fish are personality wise.
Thanks guys! So happy to be moving forward.

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Squishie89 · Dec 3, 2012

Well I ended up naming the clowns Nymeria (female) and Jon Snow (male). These are both characters from Game of Thrones/ A Song of Ice and Fire. So far they are doing good. Not eating a whole lot, and still prefer their front left corner.
My new sump came in today and installed it. It is a 36 long. Has a skimmer section, small fuge, return, and a large ~10g ATO section.

Conehead made a rare daylight appearance. I hope he is alright.

My HA that pretends to be an anemone.

The mermaids fingers just keep growing.

Not sure what these 2 growths are. They grow very, very slowly though.

Squishie89 · Dec 11, 2012

Update! Today I got an order from Reefcleaners.com of a huge CUC for my tank (I got the 90g packaged with hermits). The clowns are doing well. We had a bit of a mishap this morning where the outlet box fell off my cabinet (it was velcroed on) and disconnected my controller, so the tank was without power for I don't know how long. The temp stays at 77, and it got down to 75. But it seems everybody rode out the mishap okay. I got some cool pictures and a video for you guys.

I think this is my new favorite photo of Nymeria and Jon. Especially with the snail photobombing.

I got Walrus to start working on that part of the fake reef.

Cleaned the overflow cover. The teeth part was nnaassttyy.

The CUC has arrived!

Over 80 snails in that bag.

Already changing shells

Before the 80+ snails

And after

The resident Dwarf Zebra Crab, named Zebra, was on hand to deal with the new recruits.

This guy came with 2 LIVE barnacles!

Video of the barnacles. Click the image to watch.
I look forward to seeing what this CUC does for me. My next step is to add an urchin and then a blenny. I am also hoping to purchase my skimmer sometime this month on sale, fingers crossed.
As always, thanks for looking!!

skinz78 · Dec 12, 2012

Looking good sqush!

Steviereefs · Dec 12, 2012

Hi Squishie
Your tank looks awesome!!!!!! Love your clowns!!!!!! Thank you for sharing.:bigsmile:

Squishie89 · Dec 20, 2012

It has been rough.
First, the ammonia and nitrites are up and I have been doing my best to battle them with no luck.
Then, I found the pom pom crab, thought he was dead, then found out he was alive once I took him out of the water, then I believe he molted and is gone again.
And now, either I didn't wash the carbon thoroughly enough or the bag came open, or both, but the tank is a wonderful shade of gray. I did an immediate PWC (Thank God I had made some SW last night) and put a new filter pad in the sump. The fish had been fasting for 2 days to try and help with the ammonia, so I fed them some mysis shrimp. The tank is clearing, slowly. It was a dark gray when I arrived, and is now a light gray with more visibility. The fish seem fine, and the inverts are good. Nymeria, black clown, had a bit of a fit while I was in front of the tank. Twitching and swimming quickly and all over the place in her and Jon's corner. It lasted less than 10 seconds, but, it was a bit scary.

Squishie89 · Jan 5, 2013

Updates!
Ammonia and nitrites are in check, nitrates are showing up but not a huge deal. Added a lovely blue tuxedo urchin last week and he is doing great. Fish are doing fabulous. CUC has really been making strides in cleaning the tank and the fake reef (so.many.nooks.and.crannies). I now have some WONDERFUL bubble algae that I am researching the best tactic for removal. QT has about 10ppm nitrates so I am going to get that in check and then order the next fish to be added. The wifi for my reefangel controller works now which is great. Hopefully this year going to put a camera in the sump area and one for the tank so I can monitor it even more from afar. I also got a skimmer! Coral Vue Reef Octopus XP1000SSS and I am having a much better time with this skimmer than the one I bought initially. It has been skimming since day 1, hour 1.

And one of the best news items: So my pom pom crab, Seymour, has been very reclusive since day 1. Not surprising as this is their nature. Then on 12/15 I spotted him just laying on the sand, exposed. I figured he was dead, so I nudged him with my cleaning claw and no movement, and I couldn't get him out with the claw. So I go in and grab the rock near by so I could get at him easier, as I am looking at the rock, the pom pom crab is on it and walking around, so I quickly pushed him back into the water. I put the rock back and came down (I have to use a step ladder to get into the tank) and I look and I see the pom pom in the same spot, this time, upside down. I gave him 1 day like that then I picked him up and he moved just the tiniest bit, so I put him in a different location where he was a bit safer and I could watch him better, as I am hoping at this point he is molting and not dead. 2-4 days later I come home and find his exoskeleton on the rock below and no sign of the crab. I declare this a victory. And I feel at this point to mention that there was no sign of his anemones. I figured they probably perished with the not-quite-so-perfect-water-quality. Fast forward to 12/28 and while feeding the fish some yummy mysis shrimp, I saw some quick movement out of the corner of my eye, I went to inspect and it was the pom pom crab! I only saw him for a few seconds, but was astonished to also see he still had his anemones! My thinking is he may have stashed the anemones away while molting to keep them safe and easier to retrieve than trying to pry them from his old claws. Since then I have been able to find him just about every night in his little alcove he calls home.

So, now onto the good stuff, the pictures!

FTS this was taken on 1/3/13 Not too shabby. I keep the wood canopy off because it seems I am always needing to get into the tank =/

My power area and my reefangel controller.

Da' sump. Skimmer turned out a lot bigger than I had anticipated. But I love it. (It is not producing skimmate that clear, I was still getting the right setting)

Teeny tiny hermit

This is Big Guy as he is in one of the largest shells available.

These Mermaids Fingers have really grown

If you look right in the middle, you can see Seymour's anemones.

Mr. Blue the urchin. I am actually surprised how relatively slow they are. But I love watching him.

And the infamous bubble algae.

Squishie89 · Jan 19, 2013

I also have a tumblr for my tank that I upload videos and pictures to (and reblog pictures as well), in case anyone is interested. Squishie's 90g Saltwater Tank

Everything is going great currently. Waiting on the sponge for my aquaclear filter to be seeded so I can get the QT going again and hopefully get the next fish (Tribal Blenny)! I got the CPR sock it kit and a new overflow hose and installed all of that into my sump. The water flows faster now due to the shorter hose and the straight drop. The skimmer adjusted fine to this, however, my probes for my controller have not and I am still working on getting them in areas they like in the sump. Just yesterday I got my ~4g refugium up and going, it is more of a pod hang out than a real refugium, but, it is a work in progress. The refugium has ~2 lbs of live rock (and 2 old frag plugs with dead coral skeletons on them) and 1 lemon sized ball of chaeto. Nymeria and Jon (clown fish) have been cleaning a rock in their corner for their future nest. My blue tuxedo urchin, Mr. Blue has been picking up anything and everything that comes in his path, except for very large things like the turbo snail that is as big as him.

Current FTS.

Fish

Algae eating friends

Tiny refugium

Only difference is now the chaeto is in the middle so it will get more light

Possibly aiptasia? Not 100% though, only specimen I have found.

Squishie89 · Feb 1, 2013

Post number 500!
Anywho. The tank is doing great. All the critters are thriving. I have had to start supplementing nori for my turbo snail as there is no more algae, and the urchin does not like nori, so I am trying some lettuce (when I peeked at him in the night he was still on top off the lettuce after ~3 hours of being on it, so I will take that as a good sign). My sponge for the QT is just about ready, but unfortunately I have made the adult decision to wait until I am comfortable with how college is going before getting the next fish. I screwed up the last semester when I had the tank installed (and the skimmer wasn't working and a bulkhead was leaking, just stress stress stress). And I cannot afford to do that again. I may work on getting more inverts like sexy shrimp, feather dusters and a pistol shrimp in the meantime.
I am also looking into purchasing a second tank! It is a coralife 29 full set up (tank, stand, skimmer, pump, lights). I will not be setting it up until the summer or even the fall, but this tank will be for coral. I will be making a separate thread for that tank when the time comes. It seems like a great tank for doing a small system, but not too small, and making the upkeep a bit easier.
The only change that happened for the DT is I added more sand to the front for the future burrowing fish/critters. This was a disaster and feel blessed that nothing died, all the parameters have stayed in check.

Squishie89 · Feb 17, 2013

Well my large red unidentifiable hermit crab began attacking snails, so I now have an in-tank ICU station set up to try and rehabilitate the snails. How I made the ICU was by using the inner box of the reef gently acclimate pro, cutting some filter pad to fit in the bottom, and putting sand inside. The sand can't be very deep due to holes on the side for flow, but it is enough for the snail. The hermit went to his new home today with a fellow saltwater enthusiast. I actually really love that hermit, but he was a liability. I added a Tiger Pistol Shrimp to the tank who has been having a blast making burrows all over the place. I believe he has finally settled down under a rock. Next month I plan on getting the next fish, 3 feather dusters and some sexy shrimp. This will also be my first take at quarantining (for the fish only, inverts are going into the display). I have run out of algae so I have had to start feed the critters who normally eat algae. My large turbo snail is fine with nori, but my tuxedo urchin is a bit picky. But I found out he likes meaty foods. So if he is on the glass (or I have put him there) I place food at the junction of him and the tank and he moves the food towards his mouth. He is a very slow eater, but he gets it all inside. I also installed a backup power source just for the tank in case of a power outage.

FTS

Oy, the shrimp, and the outside of his burrow

I have tons of these little brittle stars hiding in the rocks

The ICU.

The sump. I have the skimmer dialed in now which is great.

The is Big Red, the carnivorous hermit. He loves half shell clams. This was how fast he grew- http://25.media.tumblr.com/6bfbb980f5d23103689c5ed3401aac23/tumblr_mhs21mLJOa1rjbrz9o1_500.png

And today I found a tiny feather duster! I do know it is a feather duster and not aiptasia. And I actually have tunicates growing in the sump and overflow, had one growing on a rock but someone ate it.

Video of the feather duster.

Squishie89 · Apr 26, 2013

Been a while! Everything is well. I now have a total of 3 fish in the display, I know I know, slow it down. 2 clown fish and 1 tribal blenny. Blenny went through 4 weeks of quarantine and took it like a champ. I decided not to medicate at all because he came from a reputable dealer and I watched very closely for any signs. Did I take a small risk? Yes. I also have a large Tiger Cowrie that I got myself for my birthday, she is about 4-5 inches in length.

Took a video of the tank and system. Enjoy!
[video=youtube_share;Xor0iJThsj8]http://youtu.be/Xor0iJThsj8[/video]

Squishie89 · May 7, 2013

Update and Pictures and a Video!

A lot has been going on. I have slowly been adding more rock to the display system as I realized I only started with 50 pounds of rock =/ (I am up to about 75lbs now) I also have started dealing with high nitrates, has gotten up to about 80. I have 5cups of Kent Nitrate Sponge media in the sump. I also have a large sampler pack of macro algae on the way. Tomorrow I have a fish order being delivered, a bonded pair of Fancy Gumdrop Coral Crouchers from Divers Den. I am very excited about them. And later this week with the macro algae I have an Orange Spotted Hermit Crab and a Blue Porcelain Crab coming. Back in March my urchin started having tissue loss. Once I started spot feeding him (he will eat frozen meaty food) he started to regrow the tissue and became more active. His recovery has been slow, but from the people I have talked to, bringing an urchin back is hard and not often done, so I am pleased. Well, enough words, picture time! And a video!

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FTS taken 5/5/13

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Quarantine tank all ready for the coral crouchers! Hope they don't mind fake coral.

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Coraline has finally started growing on things other than the rocks. Really thrilled.

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Powerhead is not exempt from coraline growth!

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This is Bessie (Tiger Cowrie) and her gorgeous face

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George the Tribal Blenny is a character and very handsome

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These 3 sexy shrimp stay together. And there is 1 large one, 1 medium and 1 small. Almost like a little family.
[video=youtube_share;rPHUVmqjt2k]http://youtu.be/rPHUVmqjt2k[/video]
My urchin eating frozen. I love watching him eat.

Squishie89 · Aug 2, 2013

I am working on a HUGE update as lots of things have happened, but due to a contest, I need to post some photos.

Here is a photo of my plate garden!

Squishie89 · Aug 2, 2013

I thought I would do a formal update on my tank. I originally planned on doing a FOWLR with inverts/clams. I have since moved to a fish and coral tank.
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My tank is still a 90g with a 30L sump (10g ATO resoiver)
~70-80lbs live rock (however the fake reef may be "live" now and that would put it close to 90-100lbs)
ReefOctopus XP1000SSS Skimmer
Reef Angel controller
2 koralia powerheads
250 watt heater
Pondmaster Mag Drive Pump PM 9.5
Just started using reef crystals instead of regular IO
1 14k reef spectrum buildmyled.com LED light, 48" with 60% lenses
1 actinic buildmyled.com LED light, 48" with 60% lenses
1-2 battery operated air stones that come on when the power goes out
Filter Direct RD102 5 stage RODI water filtration
15g QT set up

Current inhabitants;
Fish;
2 clownfish, 1 snowflake, 1 black and white
1 tribal blenny
1 gumdrop coral croucher
1 randalls goby
1 blue mandarin

Inverts;
1 pom pom crab
1 blue porcelain crab (Have not seen her since I put her in though)
~15+ hermits

~150+ snails

1 tiger pistol shrimp
1 fire shrimp
3-4 sexy shrimp

Corals;
1 purple tip frogspawn
9+ pink candy canes
1 orange plate
1 rainbow plate
1 blue/purple with green tentacles plate
1 colt coral
2 polyp duncan
baseball sized Flowerpot (green skirt with red center)
1 little itty bitty purple with blue mushroom

The rest of my fish stock list is;
2 dragonface pipefish
1 purple tang
1 coral beauty
1 copperband butterfly

Overall things are good. I tried to have clams, but 4/4 perished in my tank. I still have not isolated the cause, but I am working on it (2 theories are calcium level was too low, or my tank is not stable enough). I have not given up, but I have taken a break from trying. Everything else is thriving. I tried to kill flatworms with flatworm exit and while I did everything I could, I did not kill the flatworms, instead I killed some brittle stars, my pod population and possibly a lot of the beneficial bacteria. The tank has since recovered and back to normal.

Thanks to some free corals, I dived into corals. It started with candy canes, colt and a mushroom. I will not be going super into corals because my rockwork was not made for corals so there is not a lot of room, plus, I am still more into fish.

Some tidbits/stories about the tank.
For some reason I cannot keep peppermint shrimp alive. I have had 6+, all died. A few of them were pregnant when they passed. One managed to spawn, but she died shortly after.
Only other deaths have been a blue tuxedo urchin. He was in there for months, but he got a hole in his shell and died. He was sick for a long time with a flesh eating disease. Also a blue spot sea hare. She did well for a few days and then died and I found her stuck to a powerhead. I had to a put a mandarin down as he was bitten by something, not eating, barely moving and gasping. And a gumdrop coral croucher passed in QT either from worms and/or she was not eating.
The tank is getting close to being ONE YEAR OLD!
My goby and pistol shrimp paired for 1.5 days, they then decided they were better as friends.
As part of my CUC order from a website, I was given a red hermit. After he grew at an exceptional rate and began attacking my snails, I gave him away to a friend. I managed to ID him as a Giant Marine Hermit.
I have successfully quarantined 3 fish.
My candy cane corals are going through their 4th split at the moment. I am considering re-naming these as rabbit corals.

FTS from today;

More pictures to come, thanks for looking!

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Squishie89 · Aug 5, 2013

My beautiful flowerpot. It is slowly working on full polyp extension.

revhtree · Aug 5, 2013

Looking good. Loving those plate corals!

Squishie89 · Aug 7, 2013

Got 3 new corals yesterday. A blue hammer, a large galaxea (don't worry, he is well secluded), and a red/maroon plate with intense green rim and mouth. And my mandarin Max decided to pose for me.

Squishie89 · Aug 9, 2013

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I thought I would show off all of my corals! I currently have 11 different kinds. I have a bunch of pink trumpets/candy canes, a colt coral, 2 polyp duncan, 1 little mushroom, 2 ricordeas, 1 large galaxea, 1 blue hammer, 1 frogspawn, 1 flowerpot, 4 plates, and an acan.

Squishie89 · Aug 17, 2013

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Pokey, my male fancy gumdrop coral croucher

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One of the sexy shrimps enjoys hanging out in the flowerpot

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My ricordeas are growing!

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Roland is always grumpy

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The acans are doing really well.

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Coco worm

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Galaxea, one of my favorite corals

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Max the mandarin is all sorts of adorable

Squishie89 · Oct 1, 2013

Sorry for the lack of updates. And no pictures tonight.
-Max the mandarin passed away
-Got 2 dragonface pipefish (male and female) on 9/8/13 and they are doing great. They have no trouble at all with the flow in the tank or the corals. They will actually swim up into the flow.
-Next up is a copperband butterfly, then it will be a male wantanbei angel, and then a purple tang then I am done with (intended) fish!
-Corals are splitting like mad. Corals that are actively reproducing; dendro, duncans, hammer, frogspawn, candy canes (I don’t think these will ever stop), ricordea. As of current I do not plan to frag the frogpspawn or hammer. I may need to seperate some of the candy canes.
-I am pretty pleased with the tank these days. I cannot wait to get some fish in there that swim around! We are so lacking that kind of movement.