Mayja's 90 Gallon Reef Experience

[Mayja]

Here's a much clearer picture of my new live rock:

Since I've taken this picture, the dark pink coralline has faded to white. Now, it's turning dark purple. Personally, I prefer it to the pink. I read that this was a bleaching effect due to the change in lights. As long as it comes back, I'm really not worried about it.

 

[Mayja]

Tonight, I am the proud mother of a new baby brittle starfish (brilliant white!) AND possibly a new baby turbo snail! The snail is definitely not a stomatella. It's this tiny white little guy with a shell and the shell has the same shape and starting to get the same coloration as the big ones. They're too small for photos, sadly.

I am registered for baby shower gifts at Bulk Reef Supply.

 

[Mayja]

Here's the latest insanity with my clownfish:

[video=youtube_share;G3UpVU9F6vU]http://youtu.be/G3UpVU9F6vU[/video]

 

[Mayja]

I found two huge nasty aiptasia anemones when I got home. I immediately put my coat back on and ran out to the LFS for Aiptasia-X and three peppermint shrimps.

Let me tell you, the aiptasia didn't last long. Thank god I researched this stuff so much that I knew exactly what it was on sight. Otherwise, I might have been standing there all night saying, "Look at the cool brown anemone!!!"

 

[ReefApprentice]

Hope they didnt start to multiply.

 

[Mayja]

Hope they didnt start to multiply.

I took a look around this morning and didn't see anymore of them... so far. Looks like the Aiptasia-X worked. It's like they melted away. I didn't see any remnants of them at all.

 

[Mayja]

My peppermint shrimp seem happy. They made me realize just how many nooks and crevices they can hide in because after 2 minutes of watching them they were gone! I couldn't find them! Every once in a while, I'd get a glimpse of one, and then it'd be gone again. Kudos to me for good aquascaping. This morning as I walked past the tank (lights were out, pseudo dark in the room) I saw something on top of the rocks. I turned the dimmer switch on the lights up just a notch and I could see the silhouette of a shrimp happily digging into something.

I noticed that they have this sway-like movement even when they're standing still. Almost the way a cat will wiggle its butt before it pounces. Funky.

 

[Mayja]

I went into another one of the LFS in town cause I needed some nassarius snails. I got my 10 snails and a sand sifter starfish (he's just too cool!) and I was walking past the corals to pay...

But I stopped (first mistake).

I started browsing (second mistake).

I started asking educated questions (third mistake).

The LFS guy said that he would sell me a candy cane for $30 (11 heads total-some are in the back that you can't see).

I couldn't resist.

I came home, got the snails/starfish acclimating, and then tried to figure out where to place my frag. This is how it looked once I finally got it situated:

After a few hours, this is how it has opened up:

Can anyone ID this and tell me exactly what these are? I know they're LPS candy canes, but I don't know if they're anything more specific (still searching via Google).

 

[Mayja]

I fed the entire tank last night with some Formula Two frozen food. I thawed it out and used a turkey baster to spot feed. I started with the clownfish, who went after lettuce and meaty bits. But as soon as the rest of the tank got wind that this stuff was in the water, it was pure chaos and insanity.

Every nassarius snail surfaced and hauled a$$ up the glass to snag anything free floating. The shrimp sprinted to the front leaping over the hermit crabs, who also scrambled to the front, toppling over each other along the way.

I spot fed the candy cane coral, who gladly closed up around some mysis shrimp bits. It was a very happy coral.

I've never seen such a frenzy before, and I have used this food in the tank a couple times already! It's not like I'm starving these guys. Geez! :columbo:

 

[Mayja]

Here's some more photos I took of the tank today:

Sand Sifter Starfish

This is my new green zoanthid that I received for free from an LFS for stopping in and introducing myself.

This is my new mushroom that was also free from the same LFS.

 

[ReefApprentice]

Carefull with the sandsifter-they sometimes will detirate for lacks of food.They are mostly recommemed for older tanks.Hopethe starfish is a sucess.

 

[Mayja]

[video=youtube_share;kY3g2exBCsM]http://youtu.be/kY3g2exBCsM[/video]

 

[StirCrayzy]

Cool start to your new adventure,i can feel your excitement reading through.
I think the rockscape looks good, the corals will do better if moved from the sand to the top given your current lighting.

Have you removed the caulerpa yet? Get it out while you can.
good to see more MI people around (poke to AJ too) !

Enjoy this mornings surprise snow!

 

[Mayja]

Cool start to your new adventure,i can feel your excitement reading through.
I think the rockscape looks good, the corals will do better if moved from the sand to the top given your current lighting.

Amazingly enough, the purple mushroom has already started to grow! I can tell from photos that it's covering more of the rock. The zoas are opening a bit wider as well. Crazy, eh?

Have you removed the caulerpa yet? Get it out while you can.

I know you're warning me against caulerpa, but I've decided to keep it and give it a fair try. So far, it has been doing an amazing job of keeping an excellent water quality in the tank. I remove a handful of it whenever I do a water change, and it's growing like crazy. I'll let you know if I have any issues with it.

good to see more MI people around (poke to AJ too) !

Enjoy this mornings surprise snow!

Yeah, hubby and I had to go shopping this morning and we're stomping through it. I'm really ready for spring now!

 

[Mayja]

It's been over a month and I've never cleaned the substrate, but it was starting to look nasty. So, I decided to vacuum the substrate last night because of a Cyano outbreak. I realize that this is due to poor flow/excess nutrients in the tank. I'm working on a solution to that.

I got it all cleaned up (what a pain in the a$$). I'm too short for this. I always need a step stool to reach the bottom.

Afterwards, I ran into another forum online that discussed Cyano bacteria and the guy got smashed on his forum for vacuuming the substrate. He had a deep sand bed like mine, and everyone was screaming at him for disrupting the levels of bacteria in the substrate and said things like, "In 2-3 days, you can kiss your fish goodbye!" What a$$holes!

:soap:
*dismounting from soapbox*

Now, I'm worried that I f*'d up. Sorry for all the cursing, but I'm just in a crabby mood. It's my anniversary today and my hubby's sick so we can't celebrate. :tears:

 

[StirCrayzy]

Happy anniv. Anyway!
Theres always been healthy debate about vacuum or not. Bottom line is your tank is "New", and will routinely get these small outbreaks, you suffer through them, do a few big WCs and you should be home free til the next one.
It sounds like that was a pretty hostile post about vacuuming, many different opinions out there.
I wouldnt worry too much, many folks havehave success wihth each method.
How deep is your sand?

 

[Mayja]

My sand is at least 4 inches deep.

 

[Mayja]

I just ordered my first powerhead! I got the Tunze 6055 controllable ($229.99 from BRS - used points + $5 coupon). I'll eventually buy the other one and then have a controller for groovy wave action. Since I only have two fish and a couple softie corals, I'm not worried about too little flow for now. I didn't want to get cheaper powerheads and then have to upgrade later. I considered going with the Jebao wp40's, but I'm not happy that I'd have to get separate equipment to control the flow, plus no info on longevity/performance, plus what if's on necessary repairs/replacements. Bah. But I was really close on those. I also considered one mp10 Vortech, but I decided after watching a gazillion YouTube videos that I didn't like the pulsing sound of the pump. I want it quiet. Tunze are in the water and will be quiet. So, I'm just waiting for it to arrive. Sooo geeked!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

You create great vids pretty starfish

 

[ReefApprentice]

That's a good fancy power head you got.should work out fine