Chelsey's 100 gallon Cube Tank Build

[normanbates]

today is the 6 month b day

 

[MarvinsReef]

very nice Chelsey...

I'm glad the tank is coming along very well... didn't you get three Picasso's.. did you let go of one? very unique markings.. pretty cool.. one looks like he/she has a helmet..

 

[Chelsey]

Thanks for the compliments I didn't let go of one, he jumped

I really like these kids but they host my Tunze nano stream, which is in the top corner of my tank, so I don't get to see them swimming around much

 

[robinreefer]

Chelsey,if you don't mind my asking.....where in St.Louis do you go?I know of two places that I frequent within 10-15 miles of one another.But am looking for someplace else to hit as well.It takes me roughly 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get there so I like to wait and go when I have $$$ to spend,a third place would be great.Thanks

 

[Chelsey]

I usually visit Marine Solutions. I've been to every LFS in STL and I tend to like them the best.

 

[Chelsey]

Here's a tiny update...

My Palmer's Blue Mille and my ORA Rose mille have not been showing any polyp extension as of the past few days, and last night I found out why. After testing everything under the sun I sat and watched the tank for a bit, only to see my Brazillian Flameback happily nipping on my milles! I tore my tank apart and got him out. He's now in with Sam, my mantis. Sam has been in with a tiny damsel for 5 months now and hasn't touched him, so I don't think a 2" Brazillian Flameback will be dinner either. This does have me concerned about adding the 2" Potters angel that's currently in QT to my display tank though

I also started running carbon last night via an empty phosban reactor. Hopefully some of my zoas will perk back up and if I'm lucky the darth mauls will maybe make it...they look pretty bad right now. Every morning when the lights come on I expect to see an empty frag plug.

Here are my test results from earlier this week...I have a little bit of tweaking to do.
Mg 1050
Alk 9
Ca 350

Earlier last week I made a bunch of 1-4 polyp Happy Samhain frags and glued them to disks. Hopefully in the next month or two I'll have some nice sized frags for sale!

 

[robinreefer]

Thats one that I hit,I also go to Planet Reef,they do alot of teaching and such so I stop there as well.....Fairview Heights has a place,can't recall the name at this time,that normally have alot to choose from and are friendly.All seem to be in around the same price range altho Marine Solutions has more in stock as a rule.Thank you.

 

[robinreefer]

Aquatic Treasures is the one in Fairview Heights but is too far for me to go to.....but they are very nice and helpful.

 

[Chelsey]

Tiny update:
My Ca is now up to 400
Mg is still low - 1050
Alk is 7 - still low

Once I get my Ca reactor situated I'm hoping that I'll just have to bring the Mg and Alk levels to where they should be and then the Ca reactor will keep them there. I'm going to test my salt to see where it's at in terms of Mg and Alk, I may have to add some stuff to my new batches of water before water changes.

I will also be picking up a pair of ORA snowflake clowns this Friday...I can't hardly wait!
I've got a juvenile orange shoulder and a 2" Potters angel in QT too, they'll be added Oct 18th. I'd really like to get a few more wrasses, but my leopard wrasse is incredibly aggressive

 

[MarvinsReef]

I will also be picking up a pair of ORA snowflake clowns this Friday...I can't hardly wait!

don't forget to share some pics of these guys...

 

[oceanparadise1]

yea i second the pics! im waiting on my pair of grade a snowflakes

 

[Chelsey]

10 steps to giving Chelsey a heart attack:
1. Buy expensive clownfish
2. Add to tank
3. Mean leopard wrasse picks on newcomers
4. Split up pair of snowflakes so that while I'm watching one the wrasse is picking on the other
5. 5 minutes later, cannot find snowflake #2
6. Look around in tank to see if you can find snowflake #2
7. Heart racing, look around tank on floor for fish
8. See fish on floor behind tank, covered with fuzz
9. Freak out, put fish in bucket that you dripped fish in and clean off fuzz
10. Clown immediately revives, fins you, and then swims around bucket looking for friend.

I was going to put them in a critter keeper in the cube, but then I decided that they were probably big enough to do ok against the wrasse. During the brief period the snowflakes were loose in my tank the picassos were quite happy to see them and they were "schooling," if clownfish can do such a thing. Needless to say they're now in a critter keeper with a piece of PVC, just like my picassos were. If I were not so attached to the stupid leopard wrasse I would've killed her. Despite all of this harrassment the snowflakes ate quite well tonight, less than an hour after they were in my tank.

Anyway, here are the pics:

The clown in the back is the one that went surfing. If you look close enough you can see little areas of discoloration from me getting the junk off of him. That clown's name is now Lucky.

 

[Chelsey]

Here's a cute pic I just took. Lights are already off for the night so I had to use the flash.

The picassos usually sleep in the top right corner of my tank, but I guess they decided that they wanted to be by their new buddies tonight.

 

[JGoslee]

Those are some good looking clowns! Glad they're alright.

 

[Chelsey]

Thanks I'm glad they're ok too. I'm still going to be worried about Lucky until those spots go away and I am convinced that he'll be ok. In the meantime I'll be worried sick!

 

[Chelsey]

The clown that jumped (male) died yesterday. Since one snowflake will not breed by herself I drove back to STL and bought the single male that they had. Here's a pic of the pair, version 2.0 The male is on the left, the female is guarding the entrance to her PVC tube: