Tranquil Seas

[ZzyzxRiver]

Funny, because I had a moment where I was loving crabs and bought THIRTY blue and red legged hermit crabs (total), and the moment has passed and I'm over it and only want snails again........ but I'm also 0% interested in removing them, so it's gonna be a case of slow attrition over their lifespans, unfortunately!

 

[BonnieB]

This has been a busy week and a time when I’ve seen my tank growing for sure! My Diamond goby we named Gem, since his brother from another mother in the middle tank is Jewel. We have 2 trochus and a turbo now as well and they are cruising the walls mostly and sometimes the rocks. I have a pineapple sponge that has nearly doubled in size over the last week and that makes me happy since it’s a good sign of a maturing tank! What is wild this week has been the explosion of those baby snails! I can’t really tell if they are astrea or trochus or even if there are other kinds as well, but lots of egg sacks on the glass now too! But nonetheless they are growing and hatching and growing and hatching! . Next week will probably be the first transfer from the smaller tank. My aquascaper will be coming to finish the design and then we’ll decide together where to begin setting things in place. I keep changing my mind but I think I’m going to move my RFAs and mushrooms to the 70 once it’s up and running and look to @coralmonsters.judy to help me make an RFA garden! My pods just arrived so today is seeding day again ( oh and Friday is cleaning day but I don’t want to scrape all those babies off the glass! The challenges of being an unintentional snail mama!!)

 

[coralmonsters.judy]

@BonnieB

That's awesome!!!! It's a lot of fun to work on our aquariums. I name my fish too lol. Very excited about your rockflower garden! I am trying to catch up on paid orders. I should be caught up by next week and able to post more for you guys. I have literally been diving like a savage. Not going to lie, I could probably collect them faster, but my flower grounds are filled with angels. We were reef hopping this week and I decided to start collecting angels lol. So much fun. Got a bunch baby frechies and queens :) I did find St. Thomas too so that was fun!!!

 

[BonnieB]

@BonnieB

That's awesome!!!! It's a lot of fun to work on our aquariums. I name my fish too lol. Very excited about your rockflower garden! I am trying to catch up on paid orders. I should be caught up by next week and able to post more for you guys. I have literally been diving like a savage. Not going to lie, I could probably collect them faster, but my flower grounds are filled with angels. We were reef hopping this week and I decided to start collecting angels lol. So much fun. Got a bunch baby frechies and queens :) I did find St. Thomas too so that was fun!!!

Sounds amazing! I’d love to hear more some time about your diving! I’ll reach out when everything is finally transferred and up and running!

 

[coralmonsters.judy]

Sounds amazing! I’d love to hear more some time about your diving! I’ll reach out when everything is finally transferred and up and running!

OMG Bonnie don't get me started lol. Ill talk/text your ear off lol. My favorite thing in the world is reef hopping. Give me 30 minutes of oxygen, a patch reef and leave me alone (HEAVEN!!!!). I can sit down there and just watch! A few days ago I was standing next to a brain coral that was so large I was looking up at it from the ocean floor! I had a customer yesterday ask me to make an underwater video. I am looking into a new camera so I can make you guys videos of dives :)

 

[BonnieB]

Sounds amazing! I’d love to hear more some time about your diving! I’ll reach out when everything is finally transferred and up and running!

Talking ears off is me and my refs I’m in heaven just listening to you give tidbits! I think videos will be amazing too!

 

[CoralB]

 

[BonnieB]

Well, today is the day, at least I think it is! I’ve told my designer I’m not in a hurry (very odd for this patience-less pastor! ). At the very least the aquascaping will be done and the 70g brought in (just so I can start another build thread !).

If all goes as planned, the LPS will get moved to the 100 along with my clowns & nem from the 32.5 tank. I think unless they can safely transfer 40 gallons into the 70 from existing tank that it will be some time yet for the rest. We’ll see!

Now I have to go clean the tanks before they come to clean the tanks (yes, I do this before I have my house cleaned too! I will have myself checked! )

Stay tuned for pics later today of how we end up!

 

[BonnieB]

We didn’t get as far as we hoped. The parameters didn’t match up enough in both tanks to make the transfer worth risking. We added a really nice flat piece of rock that in person looks like a dragon as it jets out in the center of the tank. This is where the euphyllia garden will go.

70g is now up and running after plumbing difficulties, and we’ll get the rock and all the bio media moved tomorrow after the fine sand settles. It’s all a process. Reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz who said, “All in good time my pretty. All in good time.” And so the journey continues…

 

[BonnieB]

Here’s a better picture from the side of my sleeping dragon rock! Gives some 3D depth to the tank

 

[BonnieB]

Yesterday we did a minor WC to bring the parameters in line, as well as a little dosing to bump. We swapped out the socks for clean ones and set in motion the “swapping schedule” going forward. It was a looooong day with set up of the 70 and clean and tweak of this one. We were going to get the doser up and running but it is missing some pieces so that’s delayed. Not too worried at this point since I’m fully capable of doing it. There will be a learning curve for me with a doser since this will be my first one! My guys are back today and we will evaluate for transfer readiness.

 

[BonnieB]

Done…pics of transfer to both tanks coming when lights are on! Now to clean this baby that has served me so well and figure out how to put it up for sale!

 

[BonnieB]

Here’s the 100g with the transfers…feels empty and cavernous compared to the 32.5! Everyone’s starting to open and so far seem happy in their location…except of course for Shermie, who as we all know has a mind of his own! I already turned the rock around because he was headed for the hills! . 70g will take pics when the lights come on…that’s if I don’t fall asleep from exhaustion first!

 

[BonnieB]

This is how the 70g turned out! Pretty happy with the initial aquascaping. Being that this was most of the rock from the 10g & 32.5 it’s not bad! It also looks kind of barren at the moment but that was a big jump to divide everything I had into two big tanks. That won’t last long of course for either tank!

 

[BonnieB]

Everything looks pretty good this morning. The doser is working well. Shermie has stayed put since I turned the rock around and interestingly enough, my female clown is letting the male come in sometimes. A first since I got them months ago! Watching both tanks to see what if anything may not like light or flow and need to be moved! The difference in the Kessil and Reef LED lights compared to my smaller tanks is pretty phenomenal as to how my corals just pop now when the lights come on! Here’s to hoping today that my patience paid off!

 

[BonnieB]

I’ve lost track of how long it’s been but I’m happy with how everything is developing. I added a purple tipped green nem to the 70 last week and it’s doing wonderfully. It has (so far) stayed on its rock, which added another cave and dimension to the tank. I was gifted by my LFS a beautiful orange ricordia mushroom that is in there as well. We also added a sand star “Stella” to keep things looking good. Being careful what I’m adding at this point since it needs to be drained, leveled and refilled still. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow! Once that’s done and settled, I’ll be ready to reach out to @coralmonsters.judy to being adding my RFA!

The 100 is exploding with snails. Actually saw a trochus laying eggs on the glass yesterday. It was so very cool to watch. Here I’ve added a few things besides my normal seeding of pods. There’s Ignatius (Latin for Fiery) for my fire shrimp. Then we added Twinkle the Sand Star to help tidy things up like the 70. Mamba is the name my son chose for the Royal Gramma. My three firefish (bear with me here, I’m a pastor) are Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego. Then I added a green stemmed blue tip hammer to help keep filling my garden. Also a cool colorful Favia, and a Super Saiyan mushroom that was also gifted to me. I’ll let all that acclimate for a while and check my dosing to see what adjustments need to be made but so far they are all open, extended and puffed. I’ll take some pics after I clean the tanks tomorrow!

 

[coralmonsters.judy]

Oh man @BonnieB I liked reading that post! I was actually smiling the entire time. I love it that you name your fish! I do that too :)

I will be ready for you when you are. I actually put aside like ten different flowers in a new tank called my fire fire fire tank lol. It's my tank of my absolute favorites from every dive. I'll make you a video of what I have in there so far :)

I am looking forward the beauties we are going to put in your tank . I can see it all now

 

[BonnieB]

Oh man @BonnieB I liked reading that post! I was actually smiling the entire time. I love it that you name your fish! I do that too :)

I will be ready for you when you are. I actually put aside like ten different flowers in a new tank called my fire fire fire tank lol. It's my tank of my absolute favorites from every dive. I'll make you a video of what I have in there so far :)

I am looking forward the beauties we are going to put in your tank . I can see it all now

Me too! I’d love to see your favorites. Here’s the 70 (it was cleaner than I thought) where they will go!

 

[coralmonsters.judy]

Everywhere! :)

 

[BonnieB]

Everywhere! :)

OMG I am salivating! . Those are so beautiful! I love the blue ultras and the orange ones!!! I love pinks and purples too! I think I need rainbow! I can’t wait (well technically I can! ) till I can begin adding some!