My 75G starfire display refugium feeding by gravity my 150G starfire reef tank build up

[basile]

Tour de force this week

Weel this week i made a tour de force . I had a chili coral for a few months and at the beginning he was fine and was opening ok. An NPS coral that opens up after the low light deminishes and expands his beautifull white polyps .


It had been almost 2 weeks without any extension of the polyps and i was getting worried. So i talked to my LFS who sold it to me, and he said chili corals are mostly hanging upside down in caves and prefer it that way. So with a pound of putty which i so hate to use i did my thing helped with Cg ecotech coral glue, i use both and set it up.

side down

The problem , when they don't open is that they don't feed and regress and can waste away and die.

Before, setting hi up i checked him and he was being eaten by bristle worms , he had scars and open gashes, between fingers.

So being suspended made a whole difference within an hour he opend up , as the swell they become filled with water and get heavier too so it hard to stabilize them that way. But it worked.

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[gettaReef]

Very cool. I love that side of your tank!

 

[basile]

Very cool. I love that side of your tank!

Thanks ; its my best side lol .

 

[basile]

A new microscope

At 1200 magnefication

Got a microscope and well made a video, actually a few lol .


you can check my new thread " My microscope" i'll be posting my picture ther and videos there .


At 600 magnefication;

This is right out of ALIENS its a calcified nudibranch on a euphilia

We lost contact .....it was eating my euphilias.




[video=youtube;ImnD9S9EZus]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImnD9S9EZus&list=PLk_Pw-jAYdFfzK1jNhN7rAilGwHaEzvH5&index=21[/video]

 

[basile]

We had fish for dinner

Boxing day specials so i went for the emerald crabs to help control my bubble algaes that seem to grow a bit too much, not that i mind so because the tangs, foxface and other are eating it but just the same.

This was given to me to put back to health with my super rich waters and nutrients.

Pretty little thing it has blue centers that starting to show after only 4 days in my tank.

This one is a bit more fragile , goniaporas are hard to keep indeed.

My basket seastar has been ok but i have no idea if she's feeding enough yet.

She deploys at night , catches her prey and suppose to be eating during the day.

Oh yes Christmas dinner;

1 salmon filet
half and half coars salt and brown sugar (1/4 cup each)
Dill weed
Peppercorn
Plastic wrap
2 wooden boards
A heavy pot for weight

2-3 days in the fridg turn everyday baste with liquid.

Decoration melon balls

The Gravlax is ready

Can serve up to 8 people

Served with basamic rasberry vinegar bread and olive oil , good wine rosé or white. I like red.....

After this Entré we ate some Bison Royale . Were sick of turkey up here!!

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[gettaReef]

You have so many cool critters. I wish my lfs carried even some; the selection is mostly the typical, popular array of livestock. And for NPS, odd ball, finicky type stuff like this I'm a little scared of shipping (and of course the shipping cost involved). It's a pity bc my system is quite full of nutrients and I think they might thrive, of course I could be dead wrong and would have to start slow and gain some experience. Anyways, that salmon looks mighty tasty!

 

[basile]

You have so many cool critters. I wish my lfs carried even some; the selection is mostly the typical, popular array of livestock. And for NPS, odd ball, finicky type stuff like this I'm a little scared of shipping (and of course the shipping cost involved). It's a pity bc my system is quite full of nutrients and I think they might thrive, of course I could be dead wrong and would have to start slow and gain some experience. Anyways, that salmon looks mighty tasty!

Thanks for the kind words.

The shipping in the winter i don't blame you but in the spring or summer their's no problem at all. here's a few places that are very good.

Macro Algae: Your Source For Quality Marine Plants and Macroalgae | Gulf Coast Ecosystems


Misc Corals | Reefs2go.com
Check the reste of the thread i talk about feeding the NPS , macroalgaes and sponges too.

Yes the salmon was awsome!

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[MrDJeep123]

The dinner looks absolutely delicious!

 

[basile]

The dinner looks absolutely delicious!

Yes it was very good bit of a tradition now every year the Bison was great as well sorry no pictures too much fun i guess, lol.

 

[gettaReef]

Great, thanks for the references! Its always good to get online references for livestock from someone who has ordered before and was pleased. In my experience good online vendors are few and far between

 

[basile]

Happy New Year

I'm finally sober......






.

Any way these Holidays have been hard on my tank buddies. Not sure what the heck happened. Two of my chromis died and my mate fish or file fish. The later jumped for i don't know why, usually not a jumper.




One of the chromis was totally clean no indication as of what the second had some bruising, i suspect the clowns or the nem. The clowns had spawned earlier and were very agressive.




Then i killed by accident one of my seahorses when i cleaned my fuge by redirecting the flow and causing the weeds to tangle his tail in them. He got stuck and well died, without me noticing for several day. I feal awfull. Something to think about when you go about cleaning your fuge with seahorses.


And 2 days ago one of my huge cleaner shrimp died too after 11 months. So its a hard beginning for 2015


Any way here a small clip, of my new acquisition. Its a bad focus video sorry about that but its was on the fly, she doesn't deploy usually during the day.




[video=youtube;rn7x4bGU2yA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn7x4bGU2yA&list=PLk_Pw-jAYdFfzK1jNhN7rAilGwHaEzvH5&index=26[/video]

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[Sahin]

Awesome creatures in your tank!

Xmas dinner must have been soooo yummy!

 

[basile]

Awesome creatures in your tank!

Xmas dinner must have been soooo yummy!

Thanks , yes the Gravlax was very good lol and its cheap and easy to make actually .

The lates star is another matter. Not a fan of brigning in those creatures from the deep, i took it because the guy said i had the system for it.

The odds are againts it. Basket star are better left in the ocean , but they give permits to sell them . So if your not set up fot it ; its doomed , in a few moths it will die. I hope mine will survive because of my special system hopefully its right for it.

But i don't recomend it for ordinary system. You need a high nutrient but more than that you need a special feeding system and spot feeding. and night feeding at that. Which i started to do. Grrrrrrr lol.

 

[basile]

To pill or not to pill you be the judge lol

I had to take a pill after that one






.






[video=youtube;PFLF57vDYcQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFLF57vDYcQ[/video]

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[basile]

price reduction

Well i've switch to a smaller model and it did a great job too; take a look.


Instead of a $200 thing with a 3 horse power to empty a pool, i whent for the practicle $39 at Lowes on special instead of $69 for the mini-me wet and dry shop-vac. All plastic and used by a budy of mine who raves by it.

An easy build, plug and play.

I just syphoned my water without going after anything except the rubbles in one section i wanted clean since i stopped using the socks; i wanted to see if their was much debris.

Actually not much debris was in that section mostly stayed behind, in the skimmer section, which i'll clean up next week at my next WC.

I vacuumed both side of the cubed module with the left over water ; about 3 gallons. And removed all the sediment, not that much , and refilled the sump. Next week another section will be cleaned up with the shop vac.

I emptied it in the toilet and rinsed it

Everything is in plastic so no rusting here.

The motor is protected by this membrane 100% water proof and washable

I've look inside after , everything was dry , so letting it dry after each use should be fine .

I'll put it back together tomorrow when its dry. And ready for the next WC.

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[basile]

Our friend the bristle worm

The misunderstood Bristle worm your friend and mine.




[video=youtube;_V5LtD_w9YM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-cl=84503534&v=_V5LtD_w9YM&list=PLk_Pw-jAYdFfzK1jNhN7rAilGwHaEzvH5&x-yt-ts=1421914688[/video]






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[gettaReef]

LoL. Very close up the bristle worm is actually still a very disgusting creature. Haha. Pretty cool video

 

[heathd.hd]

Hey bud I know you have like every thing in your tank so..... Do you have a BTA and what's your thoughts on it?

 

[basile]

Hey bud I know you have like every thing in your tank so..... Do you have a BTA and what's your thoughts on it?

LOL, ya it seems like i have everything hihi but , its just an impression. As for the BTA, i don't have one. I have a huge carpet anemone; i chose that one because its more stable than a BTA. The BTA are travelers, they move a lot and sting everything in their wake. Thats the first thing you have to know.

The second is when you have different anemone in a tank its bad, because these two are giants in a tank. They practice chemical war fare on a grand scale, and i mean it insidious, they basically nuke the tank just to be right and to win. Its better to put the same kind or genome in . Unless you have a super huge tank and a very good carbon reactor i would do it.

Then i come back with the traveling thing. You BTA will never be where YOU want it to be lol . Its always going to be somewhere you think its stupid. Like just in the middle of the front glass, or totally behind the rocks so no one can see it. And like i said when it moves.... If your tank is new and you can move your stuff thats ok , but if your tank is 5 years old let say and she's stinging some great corals that are so cool one day and the next well they need life support, it not fun.

So thats my 2 cent. The rock flower anemone are great because they don't sting much and stays small and are great colors. Thats one you can mismatch no problem. By the way i'm not an expert this is my own opinion some may have better experience or input, continue your research, some may even have solutions for ya. Its better to have 20 opinions than only one or 3.......

 

[heathd.hd]

Yah since none of my corals are encrusted on the rock I was thinking to maybe give it a GO. But I'm leaning the other way now. I just feel bad for my clowns with no home! Hahah. I would only go with one no matter what I got but I'm not going to have something that's gonna muck up my sps I have spent way 2 much money on. Thanks for your time and input.