14G Not a Cube (Lots'a Pics)

[eggplantparrot]

Orange green acan November 2018

growing polyps on the side thats hard to see...

 

[eggplantparrot]

Splattered green hammer Nov 2018

got a couple of "hair cuts" from my water change hose...

 

[eggplantparrot]

Fiji torch Nov 2018

lost all its color for some reason, only coral doing terribly so far, fingers crossed.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Orange/gold zoa November 2018

dont have a before picture, but it was only 2 polyps. after growing the third poly, it has stopped completely. the third polyp came in pretty quickly after acquisition.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Birds nest November 2018

 

[eggplantparrot]

all other corals are a bit too new and do not show much growth so i wont be putting them in for now.

on the other hand, new additions!

crappy glue job...

the 2 birds nest frags were from 1, however this is how it looked on the original frag plug:

it had so much algae, aiptasia, bristleworms, ewww.

i had a really really... uhhh.... "fun" time gluing the 2 frags on the plugs. eventually i gave up and went for the baking soda and thin super glue trick, except i didnt have any baking soda at home?! ended up using micro-balloons (microscopic glass bubbles used for composites) which worked too.

 

[Captain Quint]

Thank you! i am having so much more fun with just this tank than i have ever had with freshwater stuff (costs so much more too LOL). Pablo Jr is eating enthusiastically again, i will keep him in the sump for a while longer to fatten him up a bit, then back to the display he goes. thanks again for reading though my essay, err build .

The read was my pleasure and reading of Pablo Jr. getting better is the icing on the proverbial cake.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Update time since im bored at work.

Great news for Pablo Jr. He is eating like a champ now and slowly gaining weight. Weirdly enough, he does not like frozen food very much, and will take NLS pellets over frozen anyday, so i have been throwing some pellets in the medicated food water to soak in the medicine. Pablo Jr. will stay in the sump eating medicated food for 1 more week to fatten up, then he will be put back into the display.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Here is a picture of Pablo Jr. after eating, nice and plump

 

[eggplantparrot]

Also, about to make the switch!

 

[eggplantparrot]

A tool that i use that i'd like to share with yall.

It is an adjustable micropipette. I use it for water testing as well as manual dosing, quite useful. Ive always hated measuring out exactly 10ml of water for testing, and i am never consistent, so this thing has really helped.

 

[eggplantparrot]

On the other hand, i have been treating my zoas again with Furan-2 in hopes that i beat this zoa pox like stuff. I have been doing 30 minute dips, brushing with an old soft toothbrush, then dipping in revive. They seem to be recovering a bit, but we will have to see, as tomorrow is day 4 of round 2.

 

[eggplantparrot]

On yet another note, i have added 1 Periclemenes Brevicarpalis, aka Glass anemone shrimp, aka Clown anemone shrimp, etc.

I should have seen it coming, but i totally forgot about my skunk cleaner shrimp, which seemed to really want to harass the new guy. I put the new shrimp near the BTA, and he went straight for it, gently probing the tentacles. I may upload a video of the process.

I ended up having to catch the skunk cleaner and putting him in the sump as he was not letting the anemone shrimp have his peace. I will see if i cant trade him in for a smaller one as hes too big and boistrous.

 

[eggplantparrot]

Woops forgot the pictures

 

[Hermie]

pic of the sump?

 

[Pbh-reef]

Also, about to make the switch!

why are you switching to fritz? I use regular IO and am toying with the idea of switching to fritz or red sea blue bucket for the Ca levels along with normal alk.

 

[eggplantparrot]

why are you switching to fritz? I use regular IO and am toying with the idea of switching to fritz or red sea blue bucket for the Ca levels along with normal alk.

its actually about my future dosing plans. i plan on keeping my alk around 8.5-9-ish, as it sits around that right now, if i dose 3.5ml of 2-part, OR after water change. i'd like to automate dosing 7 days a week as well as be able to do water changes at any given time, so changing water with high alk Reef Crystals will not work, since i would need to skip that days dosing, since i dont have a fancy programmable dosing pump, that will not be possible.

 

[eggplantparrot]

pic of the sump?

Full view

 

[eggplantparrot]

pic of the sump?

this stand was terrible, i had to reinforce it so much and its still a bit wobbly. the included hinges dont play nice with sumps too so i had to find new ones that fit...

 

[Pbh-reef]

its actually about my future dosing plans. i plan on keeping my alk around 8.5-9-ish, as it sits around that right now, if i dose 3.5ml of 2-part, OR after water change. i'd like to automate dosing 7 days a week as well as be able to do water changes at any given time, so changing water with high alk Reef Crystals will not work, since i would need to skip that days dosing, since i dont have a fancy programmable dosing pump, that will not be possible.

makes sense!