WarEagle88's RSM 250

[WarEaglesReef]

Heeeeeere we go! Nitrites have bottomed out and the cycle is finished! Put in an order for a 55 gallon clean up crew from Reef Cleaners this evening, so I should see that this Friday. Excited to see some life in this tank (even if that life is just snails).

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Success!! Posted over on the equipment forum about trying to find a pump for my chiller that would fit in the seemingly tic tac sized compartment that Red Sea says the pump should go in. Had someone suggest this pump on Amazon and after a bit of muscle and elbow grease it fits perfectly down in the bottom! So now everything fits as it should and I can finally completely close the lid on my tank.

Got an email from John at Reef Cleaners about the postal service still experiencing delays with shipping due to the hurricane asking if I'd like to wait until Monday to ship my new CuC. I'm hoping I replied in enough time for him to hold them back but I'm not sure if I will have caught him in time. I'd much rather have them take a bit longer to ship and all get here safely than be delayed and have a bunch of them DOA. Appreciate him giving me that option and even offering to throw in some extra stuff for my trouble. Seems like a really great guy/business from my minimal interaction with him.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Coming right along! I do love doing business with John at @reefcleaners. Definitely a great guy!

 

[WarEaglesReef]

There is officially LIFE in my new reef tank!! Started the clean up crew today with 5 each of red leg, blue leg, and zebra hermits. All settled in nicely and zoomin' around the tank checking out their new home! [emoji2]

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Snails from Reef Cleaners are here!!

Package came right on time as expected, and I got everybody out and floating as soon as the mailman dropped them off to get them all temperature acclimated.


He even threw in a huge container of fish food since I opted to wait for shipping until USPS had a bit more time to recover from Hurricane Irma. I'll have to give them a try with the new blenny this afternoon to see how he likes them.


Followed John's acclimation instructions to the T, and the large majority of them if not all seem to be alive. Ceriths are taking their time coming out of their shells, but everyone else is out and zooming around the tank! Got a couple that have some interesting hitchhikers on their shells. I see some barnacles and maybe a tiny clam so far which is cool.
The 55 gallon quick crew I got came with 26 Florida Ceriths, 21 Nassarius, 22 Nerites, and 51 Dwarf Ceriths. Excited to have them all get to work! Here they all are fresh in the tank after their 15 minute temperature acclimation:


Overall excellent communication and customer service from Reef Cleaners for this first time purchase. I'm officially a fan. ;Joyful

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Today was move in day! Earlier this week I fragged a few polyps of one of my zoas in my little Evo and put it in the tank to see how they faired along with a couple arms of xenia that my main colony in the evo had dropped this week. They both did wonderfully and seem to be diggin' the water chemistry and lighting, so that makes me excited to slowly add more.


Since they did so well, along with the snails and crabs all thriving I decided today would be a good day to move Benny the starry blenny over from his quarantine tank into the main tank. He was not a fan of me catching him or having to go through drip acclimation, but seems to really enjoy his new home. After spending a few hours exploring all the caves in the rock work he's found himself a nice perch on top of the highest rock in the tank to watch over everything. Here he is making his first appearance after darting into a cave when I put him in the tank:

After removing Benny from QT, I gave the tank a good cleaning and a water change and picked up two little captive bred bangaii cardinals to start their quarantine with me now that QT here was unoccupied. They've gone through extensive quarantine at the LFS I got them from including prophylactic treatment for ich and flukes, but I will still keep them in my own QT for at least a few weeks under observation to make sure they look good and are eating well before releasing them into the big tank. I'm hoping that I sexed them correctly so that I got a male/female pair as it would be cool to see them breed at some point in the future when they're mature. Here's one all settled in to QT after acclimation:

I matched the QT tank's salinity to the LFS since they run their tanks in hypo-salinity, so I'll slowly be adjusting their salinity from 1.020 up to 1.025 like the display tank over the next few weeks of quarantine.

So excited to finally have a fish (and some hardy corals) in the tank!
(Also, since we named the blenny Benny, I'm thinking the bangaiis need to be The Jets )

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Day 1 of new environment and fishes was a success. Benny is at home in the display tank and much more active now that he has so many caves to explore and make his home. Eating well and overall looks happy to be out of QT! The new bangaiis eat like champs. Piscine Energetics' PE Pellets always seem to be a huge hit with whatever fish I feed them to. Now that they're fat and happy after eating this morning, I'm about 90% sure I sexed them correctly and got one of each. There's one that has the definite single barb, and the other I'm pretty sure has two, although they're reeeeeally small so it's hard to see with the fish constantly moving. Haha.

Having a joy of a time getting the stock skimmer fine tuned. /s
The air flow adjustment knob on the side does pretty much nothing, so I've resorted to putting a piece of tape over the air inflow and poking a hole into it and adjusting the size of that to control flow which is ridiculous. Might see if I can find an airflow adjustment knob at Home Depot and see if I can fit it to the air intake hole so that I have something capable of more fine tune adjustments.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Around 80% of the time Benny hides like this and creeps on me with one eyeball from somewhere in his little cave system. [emoji23]

But occasionally he comes out to say hello, and now that he’s not stressed and is all settled into his new home he’s darkened into a gorgeous dark purple and is fully living up to his name of starry blenny.

Really loving his quirky personality. Can’t wait for him to have some tank mates!

 

[majority_rules]

Benny's really have the best personalities. So fun to watch.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Benny's really have the best personalities. So fun to watch.

He's been a ton of fun. Total goofball that I'm super glad I added to the tank. And he's doing a great job with the small amounts of algae that have been showing up as well. Can't wait for him to have some friends in the tank.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Big changes in the new tank! About two weeks ago I moved my green micro lords mini colony into this tank from the nano because it had gotten absolutely wrecked by my purple torch coral when it decided to go on a rogue killing spree while I was gone during the day. I got home and a huge chunk of the tissue on the back half of the colony facing the torch was just gone. It's doing really well and has started to regrow the tissue that was destroyed.
Here it is right after moving it where you can see all the exposed skeleton.

Since that first LPS coral did so well after moving it, a few days later I moved my two most aggressive corals (Hollywood Stunner chalice, and purple torch) from my Evo 13.5 over to this tank because they were just getting too large and stinging the bajesus out of everything they got close to, and everything in there has grown so much it had gotten to the point where it was impossible to give them space away from other corals. They settled in really really well, and the torch opens bigger than I've ever seen it before now that it had all the space it wants.

After giving them a week to watch how everything was doing, earlier this week I decided to move a large majority of the coral out of the nano tank and into this one as most everything was just getting too large for that tank. So far all of the pieces I've moved seem to be loving the new tank and all the extra breathing room they have now. Still tinkering with their placement in the tank to fit what I would like to add in the future and make sure they're all happy with the light and flow where they are.

On Friday after work, I stopped by Aquatic Art and got a cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp to add a nice pop of red color and some movement to the tank. They acclimated perfectly and get along really well with each other, choosing overhangs right next to each other as their spots to chill out. And since Benny is an ocean fish rather than captive bred like all of my others, he immediately knew what was up with them and came over to see them and let them check him over for stuff to clean off of him. That was fun to see, as all of my captive bred fish are FREAKED when my cleaner shrimp in the nano tries to touch them. Hahaha. And the little fire shrimp is so friendly! He let me pick him up with my hand to move him into the tank and pretty much refused to leave my palm once we were in the new tank.

Here they are getting drip acclimated before going in the tank! (What should I name them??)

And here they are in their new home! (With Benny photobombing. Lol)

I've also got baby snails this week! The ceriths have been laying eggs ALL OVER and this weekend I noticed 4 suuuuuuuper tiny little baby snails on the glass. No bigger than half a grain of rice. If you look smack in the middle of this photo you'll see the tiniest one of them on the glass, and there is another on the bottom right. Too friggin cute. I've also got a tiny new little nassarius, but no pic of that one yet.

And here's the tank as of this morning! (Complete with reflection of Aubie on my sweatshirt in the glass. War Eagle!) I'm loving how well everything is doing so far. Levels are all great, and algae is staying under control *knocks on wood*. I'm thinking next weekend I will move the two other micromussa lords colonies from the nano to join the green one in the center, and perhaps the blastomussa frag as well.

And in fun other pet related news, my dog Riley loves to watch TV...especially when there are other animals on screen. I mean, this weirdo dog will watch an hour long animal show without ever breaking eye contact. But she has always ignored the life moving around in my nano tank. Last night I caught her staring at the new tank watching the shrimps walk around and Benny swimming around picking algae off the rocks. So now she has a never ending animal show in her living room for her to watch intently. Lol.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Oh geez. Sign me up for Coral Anonymous because I seriously have a problem. Went down south to Colorado Springs this morning for "Fragtoberfest" and spent WAY more than I intended to on coral for the new tank. But man did I get some really gorgeous pieces. Couple of acan frags, a new ricordea, some candy apple red zoas, wicked cool yellow octospawn, and my two pricy pieces...an aussie gold torch and lobo. Just blew my budget way out of the water. ;Blackeye Pics to come once they're acclimated and open!!

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Y'all. Can you be in love with a coral? Because I'm in love. By far the most I've ever spent on a coral, but uggghhhhhh SO PRETTY.

The candy apple red zoas opened up really nicely pretty much right off the bat.

New ricordea to go with my two other fun colored ones.

Two new acan colonies on the right chillin' with the green ones that are healing up really nicely from their purple torch attack.

Still working on getting the new octospawn in a spot with flow that it likes. Trying moving it to the side of the tank where it can get a little bit more gentle flow to see if it will open nice and wide there.

Same story for the Aussie gold torch. Clearly wasn't too happy in the high flow spot I had it in earlier, but seems to slowly be opening up in a lower flow area of the tank. (I'm surprised how well just the two return pumps move water in this tank) Can't wait for this one to be open wide so I can see it nice and fat like it was on display. Got a really interesting neon orange sponge growing on it as well...I'll be interested to see if that survives after my acclimation and dipping.

Safe to say I've got my coral fix for the foreseeable future as I slowly pay myself back for busting my budget big time. Zero self control when presented with so many pretty pieces to take home. *insert drooling emoji here*

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Finally caught my purple torch with sweepers out. Definite confirmation that it's the one that went rogue and destroyed my green acans. Glad it's in this big tank now where it can have all the room to be a mean **** that it wants.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Update! Auburn had a bye week, so I had an entire Saturday to hit up all the local fish stores. Figured I'd give all the small businesses some support while searching for my next fish at the same time. Picked up Alk test reagent at one, some turbo and trochus snails at another, and at my last stop of the day I finally found what I was looking for with this gorgeous little yellow-eye kole tang. She's about an inch and a half long and an absolute joy to have in the tank. So docile and gets along with everyone *knock on wood*. Doing a great job in combination with the turbo snails of making quick work of the algae that was starting to take over the back wall of my tank, and is happily eating PE mysis shrimp and nori off of a clip when I provide them to her. I'm in love already. (What should I name her??) She's very difficult to get a tack sharp photo of...always on the move.

Benny was not a fan of her the first evening, and made sure I was well aware of it. He displayed all sorts of vivid patterns following her around the tank, and attacked her a few times. Usually he's very shy, but when I reached in the tank to move one of my corals that night he swam all the way out into the open and bit me. Lol. He's since decided that she is pretty cool and now they hang out together and swim around the tank in unison pretty much all day.

Also, I'm thinking maybe I need to sign him up for Weight Watchers?? We've taken to calling him "Fat Benny" now. He's a little chunky. Hahaha.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Little over a week and I’ve got the new kole tang eating pellets in addition to frozen food and nori! *Linda Belcher voice* Alriiiiiiight! Can’t speak higher of Piscine Energetics PE Pellets. Now that the tang eats them, I’m back to 100% of my fish loving them. She just got much more affordable to feed! Haha.

 

[patoko878]

Update! Auburn had a bye week, so I had an entire Saturday to hit up all the local fish stores. Figured I'd give all the small businesses some support while searching for my next fish at the same time. Picked up Alk test reagent at one, some turbo and trochus snails at another, and at my last stop of the day I finally found what I was looking for with this gorgeous little yellow-eye kole tang. She's about an inch and a half long and an absolute joy to have in the tank. So docile and gets along with everyone *knock on wood*. Doing a great job in combination with the turbo snails of making quick work of the algae that was starting to take over the back wall of my tank, and is happily eating PE mysis shrimp and nori off of a clip when I provide them to her. I'm in love already. (What should I name her??) She's very difficult to get a tack sharp photo of...always on the move.

Benny was not a fan of her the first evening, and made sure I was well aware of it. He displayed all sorts of vivid patterns following her around the tank, and attacked her a few times. Usually he's very shy, but when I reached in the tank to move one of my corals that night he swam all the way out into the open and bit me. Lol. He's since decided that she is pretty cool and now they hang out together and swim around the tank in unison pretty much all day.

Also, I'm thinking maybe I need to sign him up for Weight Watchers?? We've taken to calling him "Fat Benny" now. He's a little chunky. Hahaha.

That is one cute Blenny!

 

[WarEaglesReef]

That is one cute Blenny!

Thanks! He's adorable and fully of personality. But lately he's been getting a little sassy and territorial. He bites me about 50% of the time when I put my hand in the tank. Sneaks around in the rocks and attacks me lightning fast and is gone before I can even tell what happened. Hahaha. Fingers crossed he doesn't turn into a huge grump.

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Always an interesting time in the never ending Tank Soap Opera. Coralline algae is starting to grow on all of my pukani rock which I'm really excited about. I think the three turbo snails I added a few weeks back that had thick layers of coralline on their shells definitely helped speed up that process as they zoom around all day. Fat Benny has continued to get more aggressive...I can home the other night to find a blenny sized bite mark on the side of my kole tang. Wish she'd show him that barb on her tail to put him in his place.

I've been considering shutting down my nano tank and moving the rest of the corals and the 3 fish over to this tank, but I'm worried that Benny might try to kill them since he's so territorial...especially my rainford goby as he's super timid and shy. Picked up an acclimation box at Aquatic Art this weekend and I'm going to try to catch the blenny to make him chill out in there while the clowns and rainford have time to explore and get comfortable without him harassing them.

But! I'm putting that on hold for now because I am 99.99% sure that my banggai cardinals have spawned and the male is carrying eggs in his mouth. His bottom jaw is distended and puffed out and as of yesterday he has just been hiding in the tentacles of one of my torch corals instead of coming out to eat everything in sight when I feed the tank. From the research I've done it sounds like it will be best to net him and let him chill in the acclimation box at around 23 days so that when he releases them they'll all be safe in the box where I have easy access to feed them and keep an eye on them. So I think I'll hold off on catching the blenny until after this event is over so I can use the box for the banggai if he keeps the eggs for the full time without swallowing them. Gonna be so friggin excited if I end up with baby banggais.

Picked up a frag of Miami Hurricane chalice when I got the acclimation box as well. Pics of that soon!

 

[WarEaglesReef]

Well...this weekend was a busy one. Pulled the trigger on shutting down my nano tank, so I moved the clown pair and my rainford goby into the Red Sea yesterday afternoon. Kept them in the acclimation box for a couple of hours and then set them loose. The rainford disappeared into the rocks pretty much right away and I've yet to see him reappear. Hope he's doing ok wherever he's hiding. The starry blenny was not an issue like I thought he'd be. Surprisingly very apprehensive about the new tank inhabitants, but the kole tang has shown moderate bouts of aggression towards the clowns on occasion. She's not fixated on chasing them around or beating them up though, so I have a feeling it's just them working out the pecking order and that will settle down here in the next few days.

Still moving over a few corals, but most of them are digging their new home. My RBTA from the nano did not enjoy being disturbed when I cracked off a big chunk of the live rock it was attached to and moved that to the new tank, but it started to open up today, so hopefully it will settle in nicely over the next week. I've got some organizing to do with all the coral, but here's the tank's new look as of last night!

The cleaner shrimp from the nano digs having a friend. Been following the other one around since putting them together.

And in other less fun news, the pump on my skimmer crapped out on me this morning. Magnet inside the impeller swelled and cracked through the plastic keeping it from spinning (same think happened with one of the original Red Sea return pumps...seems to be a common issue with those. I think sicce makes them?). But I ran to one of my LFS Stone Aquatics and they hooked me up with a Reef Octopus skimmer pump that fit perfectly with the little adaptor ring that connects to the skimmer housing so I'm super stoked I didn't have to buy an entire new skimmer. It was on sale too! Major win. Had to do some slight modifications with the airline tubing to get it to work, but it's up and running flawlessly now and actually allows for much more precise fine tuning than the other pump did, so I really dig it. And OMG pineapple sponges galore all over the inside of the rear sump. SO MANY. Lol.