reef update

[Mushroomman]

Hey everyone, its been a while since Ive been really active on here. I managed to snap some pics of what my setup looks like as of today. The pics arent the quality that they usually are, but they get the point across. My metal halide lighting makes some things look washed out and light, but I assure you it looks alot better in person (but doesnt most anything?).

The frags are growing nicely, and hopefully next week Ill be picking up a frag of this rare birdsnest, forgot the latin name, but its basically brilliant green with some other colours. Id also like to throw in another fish or 2, as of right now its just the 3 that Ive had forever it seems... coral beauty, yellow tang, clarkii clown.

 

[TRe]

very nice... i almost forgot about your coraline encrusted 55g .... what equipment are you running again ?? protien skimmer, ect. and what are you dosing for Ca/Alk ??

 

[Mushroomman]

1 hamilton 250w 14000K halide w/ matching ballast on right side
1 coralife 150w 14000K metal halide w/ 10000K ballast on left side(the reason that side isnt as crisp blue)
Seio 620 powerhead
Ebo Jager 250w heater
AquaClear 300 'fuge
Red Sea Prizm (yeah yeah I know... got it cheap a few years back and it actually skims)

For keeping levels up its a weekly 5 or 10 gallon waterchange with Tropic Marin & tap water, which does the trick for everything. I havnt tested the levels in a while but before my Ca was a perfect 450 without additives. When it did get low, I used B-Ionic, which I still have just in case, but I havnt needed it recently.

 

[FroggyFox]

gorgeous setup I'm jealous.

Of the coral beauty and the clown...which do you like more and why? I'm still trying to decide what fish to put in which of my tanks and I cannot decide for the life of me! A coral beauty is one of the ones I was thinking of for my 29.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

are those 2 montiporas on the back

 

[Mushroomman]

Froggy- both are very lively, colorful, but the clown is a devil. Its killed every fish Ive added in the tank that was smaller/less aggressive than it is, very pushy fish. The coral beauty on the other hand is very passive, but can hold its own against the clown. It tends to cruise around minding its own business looking for algae to pick at.

Kahlua- do you mean the green monti capricornis? theres 3 of them, one you cant see from the angle, they arent attached to the back but they are pretty close the wall.

 

[FroggyFox]

thanks Coral beauty moves a little further up the list.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

yeah those ones...can you get a close up pic ?

 

[Mushroomman]

They actually have purple polyps, too.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwooooooooooooooooooooow tnx!

 

[Lorna]

Very very nice.....I have never had any luck with the monti caps....I did have some purple digitata and orange digi a while ago but lost both colonies to rtn. Yours look great!

 

[Lotus]

Looks great Is that a huge feather duster on the far left of the tank?

 

[IDunnoWhy]

Awesome tank! *thumbsups

I can't believe how much coraline you've got in there, it's almost a solid wall of it

How old is that tank?

 

[Mushroomman]

Yeah those monti caps really are one of a kind. I got them off my buddy I used to work with at an lfs, the colony those were pulled off from is the only one hes ever seen with the purple polyps.

Yep thats a feather duster, it came on a rock I bought a really long time ago... it used to have a cool brown/red/white pattern to its frill but then it lost it, then grew the new one. To be honest Im suprised its still alive, its been in there for a year at least.

I really cant remember how old the tank is... Id say around 2 years.

 

[Katie217]

ryan your tank is soooooooooo nice!!!!

 

[Mushroomman]

Thanks, katie. It is filling in but there is still a long way to go to get it to the level I want it at.