Beware the Shallows! An 80g Reef Reboot

[Lilmatty5dimes]

Just like with any dragonet, the male dorsal fin will be much larger than the female.


I still can't believe that places sell them for $50-200 each, it's just ridiculous. They come from ONE place in the world and one importer, and they are basically a dime a dozen.

Thanks. I'll have to remember that. Pretty crazy people are still paying those prices. Hopefully the one for $200 are a breeding pair. Lol

Great pics. Whats that long purplish fish call. One you have 3 pics of.

 

[revhtree]

Looking great bro!

 

[jedimasterben]

Thanks. I'll have to remember that. Pretty crazy people are still paying those prices. Hopefully the one for $200 are a breeding pair. Lol

Some yes, some no :suspicious:

Great pics. Whats that long purplish fish call. One you have 3 pics of.

Hoplolatilus purpureus, the purple tilefish.

Looking great bro!

Thanks rev!

 

[jedimasterben]

Tried to get some pics today, failed miserably. Took around a hundred, only these were halfway decent, and most still out of focus. I really need a better lens to try and make up for my crap skills.


FTS

Six of the nine maxis

I'm still fully unable to get a decent picture of this fish, the camera just cannot figure out what do with the purple color.

But look at it going after pellets! That thing has a massive mouth.

Peek a boo

Tank is still covered in cyano mats. Not sure if I want to tempt fate (well, dinoflagellates) with carbon dosing or what. I've got 100mL of Phosguard that's been in the tank a week with no end in sight. I've moved one of the MP40s up a bit (it had drooped down almost two inches) and I was able to successfully up my return pump to 50% capacity without any additional noise, so I hope that the higher turnover rate will increase particles getting to the skimmer. I've been using KZ Coral Snow almost daily.

For losses, the stylophora and montipora from Reefgardener bit the dust. They both weren't looking so hot on the rack, so I moved them to the rocks, still went downhill. The birdsnest has lost color intensity, but has no tissue recession and has full polyp extension. The brain coral is almost fully gone now. It only has a couple of bits of flesh holding on to the skeleton and has almost no extension. Cyano has matted it and immediately afterward is when the recession sped up, so I am thinking that it is the ultimate cause of its demise.

For fish, I have not seen the royal gramma or the dispar anthias in a couple of days. The royal gramma may be hiding (I didn't see it for a week after putting it in), but the anthias was always out and about, so I fear that didn't make it, it was only interested in frozen foods and I was not able to keep up with it (as I feed almost exclusively pellets).

All other fish and corals seem to be doing pretty well, despite the cyano matting issues.

 

[jedimasterben]

So I lost most of my fish when I went out of town for less than 24 hours. All that remains is the clownfish, chromis, rabbitfish, watchman goby, damsels, and my leopard wrasse. I added four chromis and a sailfin blenny on Friday night, by Saturday morning two of the chromis were nowhere to be found, but that is typical of chromis, they are NOT hardy when it comes to transitioning to a new tank. Everything else has been ok.


Tank saw its first (and possibly only) water change today. Changed out 30 gallons, in hopes to get calcium back into range (been sitting at ~600ppm, without dosing).

Also moved the wire clusterF into the stand. I've had pegboard bought for it since I built the stand like 6 months ago, but just never got around to doing it. Decided it was time.

FTS 8/31/2014

One of the acros from metrokat.

Another acro from kat.

A little bivalve from one of the KPA rocks.

And the infamous katropora! Browned out, of course, go figure.

An echinata from kat. Tissue recession at the bottom, possibly from too high alk/cal?

 

[jedimasterben]

This is where the sailfin blenny hides. This hole also connects to the face of the rock which is right in front of the side panel so I can look at him

And now for some feather dusters

His way of saying that picture time is ovah!

 

[jedimasterben]

Got a new nem yesterday, a Heteractis magnifica. Sticky tentacles, great color, and a strong foot. Also grabbed a tiny maroon clown, hopefully my black/white ocellaris will continue to beat the bajeezus out of it and keep it male


Stole an idea from tron and doing FTS gifs.

pic is really dark, but this is the maroon. Yes, the fins are really this orange!

On second thought, all of my pictures uploaded really dark. The JPEGs were fine when exported from Lightroom. Stupid Picasa.

Stomatella!

 

[fishroomlady]

that nem is gorgeous!!

 

[jedimasterben]

So earlier, I had just dumped a cube of mysis into the tank and was watching everything eat, when I realized that my black clown seems to have only now figured out that the porcelain crab also shares the anemone, and he was not happy.


First there was a staredown.

Then the tail slapping.

Meanwhile, the nem was just all NOM NOM NOM I LOVE MYSIS

And I finally 'lawnman'd my durso standpipe today.

and holy crap what a difference it made with noise. Now the only noise is the microbubbles in the sump popping (which is not bad) and the sound of the skimmer draining into the sump, which is the last bit of noise.

I also put the skimmer in the middle chamber so that I could move the algae scrubber to the end of the sump. This way it would not only have the flow from the drain and air bubbles from it, but also the light would not make algae grow like mad inside the skimmer or on the return pump.

 

[jedimasterben]

So I received a beta unit of the Maxspect Gyre today. I can tell you guys that it completely replaces both MP40 in my tank.... at setting 3 of 12 on the speed controller.

 

[jedimasterben]

So since it was made public by Coralvue, here it is, the Maxspect Gyre vs two MP40wES

[video=youtube;GID4pFUNJts]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GID4pFUNJts[/video]






And to break it up a bit, some flowers

 

[fishroomlady]

pretty impressive! how did you luck out to get a beta unit? also what is a beta unit? lol - I'm assuming it means a new unit prior to public release? that is amazingly powerful given it's only on 3 of 12 - 12 must create a tsunami love the flowers

 

[jedimasterben]

pretty impressive! how did you luck out to get a beta unit? also what is a beta unit? lol - I'm assuming it means a new unit prior to public release? that is amazingly powerful given it's only on 3 of 12 - 12 must create a tsunami love the flowers

Just gotta have a good web presence, be helpful, and people notice

Yes, it is a prototype (but I believe this is the 'final' version).

 

[hung]

I just wish the Maxpect Gyre didn't have the ugly cord in the tank.

 

[jedimasterben]

It's not feasible to do it any other way.

 

[jedimasterben]

Comparing the power levels of the 50w Gyre, with power consumption.

[video=youtube;KxwL6LYz-Mw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxwL6LYz-Mw[/video]

 

[Rhino]

Sweet! I can't wait to get my hands on one.

 

[ReeferRookie]

I suffered a tank crash myself luckily i caught it and my fish were pretty hearty and survived the corals not so much ill admitt i almost wanted to quit right then and there. But i have come to realize sometimes it feels great to get a fresh start and it looks like you took the bulls by the horns. Your tank is looking fantastic

 

[jedimasterben]

Thanks! I don't think it's so much something I'm doing or not doing, just that dinoflagellates have disappeared and corals don't have to constantly deal with their toxins.

My anemone did NOT like me doing the Gyre test this time and is moving slowly to the front of the rock it is on.

 

[jedimasterben]

Gorgs, snails, and Pederson shrimp from KPA all were fantastic, only lost one snail. My tank instantly went from anemone-dominant to gorgonian-dominant

Purple photo sponge is making a comeback! Not sure why it decided to commit suicide, but it seems all better now