DAHansen's 34G Solana

[DAHansen]

Thanks Fish Crazy and Octoman!

Here's what I Did Today.

1. Light loss testing of the FishFence MKI - Due 7/11/08

40% to 50% light loss with the screen up... AMAZING. I wouldn't have thought it was that much, but I didn't necessarily do a scientific test. MKII will need to be created forthwith. The problem... the stupid legs on the Sunpod... They are in the way of a more verticular fence design.

2. Orange Monti Digi or Red Monti Cap - Due ? (Have to find.)

Looked at one LFS. He is going to secure one or both for me.

3. Rose Millepora Acro - Due ? (Have to find.)

LFS guy and I are both under the impression that Rose Mille's are being artificially withheld from the marketplace in order to raise their price. This will be henceforthwith known as the Great Rose Mille Conspiracy of 2008.

4. Macro Lens - Due 7/15/08 - Order online

Ordered. I have decided to be poor until the next paycheck, but I'm going to have the most awesomest photos on RS sometime next week.

5. New Macro Photos of tank - Due 5 Minutes after receiving lens.

See #4

6. HOOD for my tank - Due End of August

May have to put on hold... or do it quick. I need to build a bench (see next post).

7. Water change accomplished and added a couple pounds of reef bones for a little rockquascaping.

8. Broke my green monti digi., but not in a cool way (it's all still in one piece, but has been attached to a new base!).

9. Got SERIOUSLY bit by black ocellaris clown. Seriously, the little dude grabbed onto the fleshy part of my hand (the edge of my palm, below the pinky) and shook like a mad fish. He was apparently NOT impressed with my rockqauscaping.

10. Rescued a snail from the trash can. Yes the trash can. A few days ago I noticed a snail trail heading down one side of the tank, but couldn't find a snail. I then thought it was just a water trail. Well, whadda ya know. I go to empty the trash bin next to the tank, and there is a snail in there.

I think to myself... did I throw out a snail? I don't remember so I grab a glassful of tank water and drop him in before going to dinner - didn't want to throw a dead snail in the tank. Though he DID pass the sniff test!

I came home and he was on the side of the glass. He's now back in the tank. His name is now "Lucky."

[DAHansen]

This is related to my tank only in a sideways manner...

Today I met one my clients/customers whatever at his house. He's an artist, and I went there for a "Studio Tour." He's a wicked nice guy, and we both happen to have the same first name (David), as do our girlfriends' (Janet), and our cats (Hamlet). Small world! But that's not the cool part. I don't know if you like "Modern Art" but you may want to check out some of his stuff.

I happen to really like his work (which I why I accepted his offer to visit), and I spent a couple hours pouring through his originals. He has a VERY unique process for creating his 2D artwork (paintings... sort of).

Anyway, we spent a bit of time together, and somehow he ended up offering me a painting - my choice - for whatever I want to pay for it (these usually sell for a few thousand dollars). I was flabbergasted (never typed that word before) and very grateful.

He has a whole series on "Fishness" and some of the great examples are in the "Available 2D Artwork" section of his website. Chamberlain Studios

There's one on there that looks a heck of a lot like a Dispar Anthias.

Anyway, here's a crop of the painting I chose - it was one that he had pulled out for me to look at early on, and I love it. It's IMPOSSIBLE to see all the detail in these on the internet. Also, it's like 30x40 inches in real life.



So that's how it relates to fish. How it relates to my tank, is that I didn't pay him anything (I give him a bottle of Single Malt Scotch when I arrived! I'm a good guest!). SO, what I decided to do is instead of paying him money... I'm going to build him a bench - a super awesome bench that is going to take me a few months, but a bench none-the-less. He is remodeling his house and I think it will be great! I hope he likes it. And it will mean a lot more than money - I hope.

[Octoman]

That painting is awesome Dave!!

Can't wait to see pictures with the new lens...

[GSELLERS]

you sure your stylophora isnt a green ORA birdsnest? looks very very very similar

[DAHansen]

Originally Posted by GSELLERS

you sure your stylophora isnt a green ORA birdsnest? looks very very very similar

GSellers ,

I was thinking that exact same thing. I go back and forth on that every week. As it grows out, its shape looks more and more like a green birdsnest, so I think I'm going to go with that from now on. I understand that the green birdsnest is peaceful, vs. the Stylo being somewhat or semi aggressive, so this is a good thing.

It seems healthy, and that makes me happy, whatever it is.

The confusion mostly came from my favorite LFS where I purchased it. Their labels never ever line up with what is in their display tanks (unless it's the easy ones like GSP and Xenia).

[DAHansen]

Darn... Nitrates are up around 20ppm... hmmm... Everything looks ok. I need a better nitrate test, but that's going to have to wait a couple weeks. Did a 20% water change - so they're still high.

On a postive note - MACRO lens came in today! AND I found my tripod mounting plate so I can get non-fuzzy macro photos. Huzzah! Expect lots of new pictures tonight.

On a negative note - My black ocellaris clown is getting more and more intolerant of my hands in the tank. She now attacks fiercely. It's funny to be a 250+ pound man jumping away from a 2.5" fish - but she is AWESOME at attacking when I'm not looking. She hasn't broken the skin yet, but the last bite actually hurt! Must resist temptation to get an anemone...

I need to do some research to see if they get angrier the older they get. She's very mature and has a nice sized hump behind her head.

[DAHansen]

PICTURES!

1. Pink Birdsnest




2. Green Birdsnest


3. Hydnophora



4. Green Kenya Tree


5. Open Brain





6. Pocillopora
The first pic looks AWESOME full-screen size. Will post a link soonish.



7. Blue and Pink with Green Edge Mushroom (there's about half a dozen more on this rock).


More to come this week!

[DAHansen]

More "To Due's"

1. Still need a few more corals, thinking of looking into Zoa's for "filler" but I want to get a Millepora and a Monti Cap first and maybe an encrusting Monti of some sort.

2. Need to figure out how to make an overflow for my Solana... there's no "equal" water level in the back of the tank so if I lose power, I'll get a few gallons of extra water into the planned fuge... which is only 5 gallons to begin with. Hmmm... my OTT (Over The Tank) fuge idea is looking better and better, but it's hard to design something bigger than a gallon or two.

3. Convert my spare 5.5 gallon tank (don't even know WHY I have it, or when I got it) into a small fuge/skimmer tank to keep in the cabinet - will have Skimmer section, fuge section, and return pump. If I can't figure out the overflow, I have other plans for it that require some diamond core bits and a home-made wavemaking device of my own overly complex design.

4. Still need to put some doors on the tank stand/cabinet.

[DAHansen]

Suicide Snail Update -

Last night, around midnight, while I was letting it all hang out, I heard klick klack snap sound come from the direction of my tank. It was much louder than my pistol shrimp usually are.

My first thought, the Pistol Shrimp found some roids and have grown huge and are trying to escape.

My second thought, Barnacle Bill has escaped again. You see, a few days ago I found a snail in the wastebasket. I didn't remember throwing a snail away, so I looked in the shell and there was meat! It didn't look great, but it smelled fine! Turns out he had motivated himself all the way to the wastebasket - about 6 feet if he crawled there, about two if he fell off the edge of the cabinet.

My second thought was more accurate. I looked everywhere for Bill and finally found him behind the cabinet where I couldn't possibly reach him. Thankfully I had both a flashlight and long-handled cat toy handy (I told you it was after midnight). Bill was active when I last saw him, but it's only a matter of time before he tries to jump free again. Little dude is lucky I was walking past the room when I did, or he would be D-E-D Dead.


(This was also a bump, because I put up some photos and no one's said anything about them.)

[Octoman]

Awesome photos, looks like you're settling into that new lens well!

Sorry to hear about the daredevil snail, maybe he learned his lesson this time. If he does it again and you don't find him, your nose will let you know really quick...

[DAHansen]

Thanks Octoman, though I have found a problem... All the SPS is at the back and I have a deep tank (front to back).

Yeah, the Suicide Snail is going to end in a bad and smelly way some day. He's called Barnacle Bill because he has a Barnacle on his butt... or where one might imagine a snail butt would be if it weren't a shell.

Here's some more attempts tonight - turned off the main pumps.


















And I'm not sure what type of Acro this is, but I'm pretty sure it's an Acro. It was looking good today!

[SeahorseBT]

Nice shots!

[DAHansen]

CORALS ADDED! From GSellers, they're awesome, and I'm an idiot. (Continue reading for more!)

The Good: Everything is ALIVE! Yay! (I always worry so when corals are being shipped to me. I feel very guilty if they die, because I wanted them.)

The Better: Everything looks good to great! If it has polyps, they started to come out within the first 20 minutes of tank introduction. Some even started opening up in the bags during acclimation.

The Best: Freebies! Orange Monti Digi that I've been wanting for a while (NO ONE in Massachusetts has one that looks like it will live - except for me now), and it was the perfect size for a hole in a rock so I didn't even have to glue it yet. AND the other Super Freebie (because I didn't know about it beforehand) a purple acro millepora. I've been looking for a millepora all over the place in either purple or red. It's one of the ones that started opening up during acclimation.

The Bad: Two aptaisia were on one of the zoa frags... BUT the good news is that I already had two aptaisia that I had to hit with the juice, so this was a great kick in the pants to get going on that and zap them all.

My Dumbassness: I ALMOST glued my thumb and first two fingers of my left hand together. It was VERY VERY close and it didn't feel good pulling them apart from each other. I have NO IDEA how I got that much super glue gel on my fingers. Coral placement is DANGEROUS!

Full tank shot coming up shortly, and maybe some pics of

[SeahorseBT]

Very cool, looking forward to pics.

[lcstorc]

How have I missed this thread?
Everything sounds and looks great.