Barney's New Marine Journal - 150l Upgrade.

[SkiFletch]

Really nice work there Barney, tank looks awesome

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks. I really dont like having the fuge next to it so just trying to get the money together to get another tank. I should have just drilled this one in the first place but was worried because if I broke it I didnt have another one I could use.

Now I just need to try and get some cheato which is proving harder than I thought it would. Skimmer is working great though.

Last thing I need to do before christmas is to get the heater out of there and stick my external canister filter on (empty except for some polyfilter and the heating element).

Hopefully after christmas (and then paying my tax in january!) I should be able to get some money together to upgrade the tank. Something around the 5X2X2 mark and I will probably use this tank as the sump. Tempted to just go for a 4X2X2 as then I dont need to change the lighting but If im going to change it I might as well go for a bigger one. Will have to stick with what lighting I have for right now and then just upgrade it when I can (second hand MH units most likely).

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Well went to the LFS today and ended up coming back with 4 yellow tail blue damsels and a skunk cleaner shrimp. I know these can be quite aggressive but the reason I got them is because the royal gramma has a real hatred of the clown fish so Im hoping with a few more fish in there to get its attention it will leave the clown alone.

Picture to follow

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Well image shack finally let me upload my photos so here they are

Full tank shot:

Ugly looking frag tank/fuge:

frags:

New Cleaner shrimp:

Trumpet coral:

Scooter and zoas:

Xenia:

Right hand side of tank:

Right side again:

Blood shrimp and bubble coral:

Middle of tank:

New Damsels (they are all rather ragged looking ):

Almost everyone in one shot

 

[N1z]

Looking nice barney, like the trumpet esp!

 

[kj23502]

Great pics Barney!!

Going to do a Journal about the upgrade ??? I hope so

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yep will definitely do a journal when I upgrade

No real changes to the tank but got a bit bored so took a bunch of photos The auto top up unit is brilliant. Might just be my imagination but the corals all seem to be a lot healthier and better expanded, the Zoa and xenia growth has really gone nuts over the last week or two as well. Frags are doing good as well, I have 5 mushroom frags in my frag tank and the mushroom in the display has split a couple of bits of itself off which are developing as well!

Anyway heres the photos

Yellow Tail Blue Damsel These guys are doing well, they where in a sorry state when I got them but their fins are starting to grow back and they are eating well. Still not figured out how to get a good photo of them yet though. There is something about their colour or the way they reflect light which makes it difficult to get a sharp photo.

Clown Fish

Bubble Coral in "daylight" feeding mode

Mushroom frags You can only see 4 here but there is a little one on the edge of the glass.

Frag tank (and bloody cyno!!)

Hitch hiker clam/bi-valve Had this guy come in on one of the first bits of LR I got over a year ago. He come from nowhere and has grown quite a bit (especially over the last 2 months).

Skunk cleaner shrimp As you can see the cyno is pretty bad. However there is no other algae in the tank and I would prefer cyno to hair algae

Left side of the tank

Zoas These are starting to grow really quickly!!! Lots of new heads on all three types.

Trumpets going into feeding mode

Thats all image shack would let me upload (really need to find a more reliable photo host ). Hope you enjoy

 

[jennybugs]

Superb pics as ever matey! I have to adore those damsels! Stunning colours. Glad they're settling in nicely

 

[SkiFletch]

Great as usualy Barney. Lookup photobucket, a much more forgiving image host. Also at the risk of nitpicking, its cyAno, not cyno

 

[xxBarneyxx]

lol Thanks ski, for some reason I ALWAYS type cyno... With have a look at photobucket as well

Yeah jenny I really like the damsels as well. I think when everything is fully grown there may be issues with territory but will hopefully have upgraded before then anyway.

 

[seffieuk]

Some lovely photos - I particularly like the bubble coral photos

Seffiex

 

[ben1987]

agreed with seffie mate, im after a bubble coral myself. Got you to blame for that
like trumpets too

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks Yeah I really like the bubble. I need to get some photos of it at night as it completely changes shape, all the bubbles deflate and all the feeding tentacles come out.

Will swap it for your flasher wrasse if you want

The trumpets I wasnt sure about as I only have T5's but they are doing really well. Expanding a lot and the small heads on there have grown quiet a bit over the last couple of weeks. Cant wait till it really gets going as its going to look really good once it has filled out with more heads. I havent been feeding it at the moment (though it does tend to catch a bit when I feed the fish) so might give that a try soon as well.

Not sure what will go in next. Would like a couple of easier SPS in there and really want a lot more zoas. I like corals with a lot of movement as well so not sure what to go for. Depends what my LFS get in stock I suppose. Definitely not gonna get a nem for this tank now but have loads of space left for corals still

 

[ben1987]

I would be that the bubble is worth more than my wrasse! He was only 20 quid Eats like a pig though

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah, I cant get flasher or fairy wrasses down here though. I have only ever seen a fairy wrasse for sell in my LFS once in the last 12 months and that was sold before I got to it. I did want to get 3 flasher wrasses for this tank but couldnt get them online as im not home enough to take delivery so went with this fish stocking instead (which I must admit wasnt really planned but was based on what I could get).