Andy's 29 Gallon Reef

[Cassette87]

Originally Posted by burning2nd

the hydroids wont hurt anything... but id be conserned more about 10 gallon's of water for a months worth of top off..... i use more then that i think.. and are tanks are very simular.... unless your top is sealed...

good luck on your trip

Hmm... maybe I'll run and pick up some more water today then... thanks for the suggestion! I'm going to try to remove the chromis today and trade them into the lfs to lighten the bioload a little, i'm sure that cant hurt, although maybe major changes like that are a no no before a vacation... anyhow... What do you all think about the placement of my ricordea? I would really love for them to propagate, as they're quickly becoming my new favorite! I already want more! the Xenia already seems to be fragging... you guys sure weren't kidding about it growing like weeds! When I return from poland I'll be sure to take a few new tank/coral shots so that you guys can see how everything has changed!

[Bobbi]

Whare are hydroids? I couldn't tell by looking at the picture. Does anyone have any bigger pictures?
Thanks

[burning2nd]

[Cassette87]

New full tank shot under actinic/moonlights

[Dentoid]

Growing in nicely!

[Cassette87]

New Daytime Tank Shot, and a picture of my lil buddy helping me clean the glass

[goldenmean]

Looks good!
lol
My cleaner shrimp also like to clean my finger nails and cuticles when my hand is in the tank!

[Cassette87]

Just wanted to share a few more pictues
Top View of my 'Ring of Fire' Zoa's

A huge bubble algae i harvested :P

[Cassette87]

One more pic.. my cute lil clown hosting the brain:

[Cassette87]

Even more! I'm getting better with the camera, so I've had the urge to take more pictures Here's the survivor of Ricordea, looks a little better latley...


My cleaner shrimp, Pierre:


My 'Ring of Fire' Zoa's under Actinic & 10k, and then under only Actinic.

[caitrina]

Great pictures! My cleaner shrimp used to do that to me until I added another one and then they went into hiding together. I barely see him anymore. Tank looks good!

[Cassette87]

Well, I visited a few not so local fish stores, a couple a little over an hour away. I went to Schaumberg, IL and visited Advanced Aquatics and Beyond the reef. Beyond the reef was a beautiful store! not as nice as Living Sea, but definitely nice. Everything looked healthy, although I did notice some bubble algae on a lot of their LR. Their prices were fairly high. LR was 9.99 a LB, but i guess when your in Schaumberg... you can charge that. Anyhow, they did have some nice little $19 frags, so I picked up a small 50-75 polyp colony of these guys pictured below. BEAUTIFUL Zoas. Haven't fully opened in my display yet, but I'll take a pic when they do. the ones that were peeking out in the actinic showed off how beautifully they will glow. all in all it was a clean, nice store, slightly high on prices, but nice selection, and very friendly staff, who, when he noticed i was interested in the zoa morphs offered to take my number and said when he frags some of his at home he'll call me. Very nice!

Advance aquatics:
Can't speak much for them. They had a lot of stuff, but it was mostly picking over odds and ends. They did have a couple nice frag tanks, but the prices were slightly nuts, and the guy working there honestly was a jerk. I wanted to buy a rock with some eagle eye zoa's, his answer " cant sell you that, i can only sell frags of it, and we don't have any more" he wanted to sell me then for 4-5 dollars a polyp. despite "all corals for sale, buy two or more 20% off" written everywhere. they had orange rics for $24 each, but all of them were pale. The one that looked nice, was smaller than a dime and not attached to anything, so i asked about it, and he couldn't have been more stubborn. Despite their website saying ric polyps $10. Which apparently is drop shipped from someplace when you order. needless to say, i didn't spend any money there, no matter how badly i want an orange ric.

Both stores are located in Shaumberg, one on 879 Roselle Rd. (Advanced aquatics) in the plaza with taco bell, and the other 205 golf st. (beyond the reef) also near a taco bell.

I without question liked beyond the reef better. Customer Service can easily make or break a deal for me. I forgot to mention, that i was the only one in advanced aquatics, and the guy was still a jerk to me.
These are the zoa's i got: ' Radioactive Dragon Eye ' Morph

I'll take pictres of the new frag in my tank once I'm home today

[Dentoid]

Nice review Andy! You should put this in the Chicagoland thread and/or the Vendors experience forum. I just got a frag of that same zoa at a local frag swap, $5.00 for 6-7 polyps! It's stunning!

[Cassette87]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

Nice review Andy! You should put this in the Chicagoland thread and/or the Vendors experience forum. I just got a frag of that same zoa at a local frag swap, $5.00 for 6-7 polyps! It's stunning!

Thanks Scott! I posted a similar review in the Chicagoland thread

My two replacement PC bulbs came in today, and HOLY COW! What a huge difference! My zoa's look like someone colored them with a highlighter, as do my mushrooms and brain! I can't believe what a difference it made! My xenia actually is pulsing constantly, my clowns are being mean again, lol didnt really want that back, and my shrimp is back to hiding in a rock when the 10k is on. Hopefully this will give my baby survivor rics the kick in the butt they need! Anyhow, here are a couple of pictures of my tank: The first is of my new radioactive Dragons eye zoas, and second of the shrooms and zoa's together for comparison to the earlier photo I ordered more coral, which will be shipped once i return home...(july 5th) The new arrivals will include:

3 Orage Ricordea flordia
1 Acan Lord Head
2 Stardust Palys
5 polyps of unknown zoa morph
can't wait!

[Cassette87]

Hey guys! back from my short vacation... Changed a couple of things in my tank and looking for opinions... First off.. a picture of my shroom colony, that spit off a little frag which is now floating loose. I'm thinking about saving it for my nano, but if they grow so fast and take over in the nano, that would be a bad thing anyhow, I added the HOB filter again, running two bags of phosban in one pouch, and carbon in the other. Thoughs on that? Also, since the Skimmer and HOB filter seem to be agitating the top enough, i've moved both powerheads lower to the bottom to help circulate the water, and provide better gas exchange. Was this a good idea? I'm hoping it'll also help with algae growth

Lastly, my tiny survivor ric has colored up nicely ever since i replaced the bulbs, and i just moved it back up a little higher to see how it reacts to the light. Also tested my calcium which tested low, around 330, so i'm slowly trying to bring it up with Kent Liquid calcium. sorry for the outburst of questions... been thinking about it a lot while i was gone and just want to be sure everything's okay! Thanks everyone!