45 Gallon Reef Diary From Setup To...?

[SkiFletch]

Ski, whats Admiral Hastings?

Havent you read all 200+ posts of my journal

Admiral Justin Hastings is the solorensis wrasse pictured above

Major Drayson's image was updated but since we're on a new page, here it is again

 

[tmreynolds]

Ski, whats Admiral Hastings?

Havent you read all 200+ posts of my journal

Admiral Justin Hastings is the solorensis wrasse pictured above

Major Drayson's image was updated but since we're on a new page, here it is again

I've been rumbled...

I will try to find a spare hour this morning, and start from the beginning

 

[BigIan]

My word ski what an active imagination you have.

and as for the pepermint shrimp they work a treat against aptasia, (when they arent suffering from friendly fire)
We wi9ll only see the 2 shrimp we have in our tank one or twice a month if were lucky, but since we introduced them no aptasia at all,,,

 

[callum_parsons]

just thought i would say that i have sat down and read through this topic and it has been a great read you have been on a bit of a journey ski with this tank.

can i b cheeky and ask for a list of fish and inverts and your hardware used

 

[SkiFletch]

You can

Fish
Cirrhilabrus Solorensis (solorensis wrasse)
Paracheilinus Octotaenia (eight line wrasse)
2 Ocellaris clownfish
Pseudochromis Springeri
Green Bar Goby
Rainsford Goby

Inverts
10 Redleg hermits
10 Blueleg/Zebra hermits (wish I didnt have these)
Handful of Dwarf Brittlestarfish
10 Cerith Snails
10 Nassarius Snails
2 Trochus Snails
1 Mexican Turbo Snail
1 Red Footed Turbo Snail
Blue Tridacna Derasa Clam

Corals
Toothed Bubble
Green Torch
Brown Body, Green Tip Frogspawn
Green Body Purple Tip Frogspawn
Blue-Green Hammer
Green Hairy Acropora Millepora
2 Poccilipora Damicornis
1 Barely living Orange Montipora Digitata (stupid hair algae)
Green Star Polyps
Yellow Fiji Leather
Green Zooanthids
Green Mouth Palythoas
Giant Palythoas
Orange Zooanthids
Green Stripe Mushrooms

Hardware
45g Standard All Glass Aquarium 36x12x24" with stock stand and custom canopy
1 x 175watt 14000K Hamilton metal halide driven by electronic Icecap ballast with 2x18watt 50/50 Power Compacts
Custom sump, approximately 30x10x12"
Custom Overflow with 3/4" piping
Mag 7 Return pump
2xMaxijet 1200 powerheads with inlet foam
250watt Stealth heater
Heavily Modded Euroreef Skimmer with recirc mod, and skimmate drain
9 Watt Coralife UV Sterilizer
Rowaphos
Activated Carbon
50mg/hr Red Sea Ozonizer (coming soon)

Pretty sure thats it, I might be missing/forgetting something, but thats a pretty good list of what I've got in there.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

looking really good ski, love that clam....... what watt MH's do you have to keep that going?

 

[SkiFletch]

looking really good ski, love that clam....... what watt MH's do you have to keep that going?

Just the 175 and the dual small actinics, nothin all that special. The clam is positioned pretty high in the tank and almoast directly under the halide though so it will get the most light it can

 

[Miss Wiggle]

looking really good ski, love that clam....... what watt MH's do you have to keep that going?

Just the 175 and the dual small actinics, nothin all that special. The clam is positioned pretty high in the tank and almoast directly under the halide though so it will get the most light it can

cool, we'd love a clam one day.......... got 250w MH's coming tomorrow time for some research!

 

[SkiFletch]

My advice, dont buy a small one. Small clams do not have developed vascular systems to house zooxanthellae and rely much more on direct feedings of phytoplankton to survive. As the clam gets larger, its vascular systems develop further, allowing it to house more zooxanthellae and to thrive in a home aquarium. The magic number seems to be 3-4" in length of shell and larger are mostly photosynthetic and easy to keep. Below that, and they struggle in the home aquarium.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

My advice, dont buy a small one. Small clams do not have developed vascular systems to house zooxanthellae and rely much more on direct feedings of phytoplankton to survive. As the clam gets larger, its vascular systems develop further, allowing it to house more zooxanthellae and to thrive in a home aquarium. The magic number seems to be 3-4" in length of shell and larger are mostly photosynthetic and easy to keep. Below that, and they struggle in the home aquarium.

hmmm good advice there thanks ski, will look into it properly once the fuge is up and running

 

[tlagden]

I would just like to know as I'm still not certain, do these amazing mushroom's and brain's just randomly grow on the live rock or do you have to go out and buy them and place them in the tank as i have seen them on their own at my LFS in pots in a tank for people to purchase yet in some of your pictures it would seem these live corals have grown straight from your live rock?

Thanks

 

[SkiFletch]

You CAN get corals on your liverock but it's rare to find living specemins on LR. Often times when soft corals or small polyped stony corals are sold, they are sold on small pieces of LR so that they have somewhere to anchor on to. I bought my mushrooms on a small piece of rock. Since then they've grown tremendously and cover lots of my tank as you've noticed. My LPS corals like my brain, torch, hammer, bubble, and some others came with their own skeletons as their base.

Hope that helps...

 

[SkiFletch]

A little update since its been a long while. Things have been status quo since the acts of mutiny by Admiral Hastings but unfortunately Major Drayson has not been seen since. He has been declared KIA and his families notified of his brief yet honorable service. Meanwhile the guerrilla forces of Aiptasia have been hunkering down in their bunkers yet not increasing in numbers. Chemical warfare was begun with an attempted assault via Acetic Acid. The Aip retreated into its subterranean burrows upon assault and re-appeared two days later after the aerial barrage seemingly un-harmed. Perhaps the enemy's fortifications and medical staff are more capable than Intelligence indicated. Perparations are now being made for another chemical air strike via concentrated Calcium Hydroxide solution. Intelligence had better be right about it's new superweapon.

In the meantime, a unique event was witnessed today within the theatre... Multiple indigenous species commonly known to the troops as "bristleworms" came out of their subterranean burrows as the sun set and scoured the substrate for food. The troops have been told to keep their distance and allow these indigenous species to proceed un-challenged as Intelligence reports them to be useful in cleaning up waste that the troops leave behind. Admiral Hastings hopefully got this order, yet he has allready retired to his stateroom for the evning. Simultaneously though, command chastized the corps of engineers for its lack of ability to provide a photograph of this event. The Corps pleaded their case that there is inadequate illumination for such an operation in the dark. Command however thinks the corps is just lazy and revoked all their shore leave to be replaced with PT

And as a final update to progress. A new friendly will be introduced hopefully on tuesday at 2100 hours local time, a friendly that will hopefully make Mr Miagi proud/jealous

 

[Miss Wiggle]

And as a final update to progress. A new friendly will be introduced hopefully on tuesday at 2100 hours local time, a friendly that will hopefully make Mr Miagi proud/jealous

who'se the new friendly?

 

[SkiFletch]

I'll give two hints, first one is that the new friendly has to my knowledge only been kept successfully by one member of these forums: Mr. M