34 GAL SOLANA REEF (PIC HEAVY)

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

HFFF! Where have you been?

Life got crazy. Had shoulder surgery, got engaged and have been over worked with PT after surgery and with wedding planning stuff. On top of it all I am looking to sell my house and find a new larger piece of property.

So after the surgery I haven’t been able to work on the tanks like I would like to, so I ended up selling off most of the inhabitants of the reef. All that remains in the tank at the moment are my two clowns, rock, sand, a few zoas and a clam. The anemone was sold to my cousin who has a 220 reef and has settled in nicely. My arm should be back and serviceable within the next month I hope so at that point I will make a decision on what to do as far as either restocking or holding off until after we decide on the moving situation. Trust that whatever does go down the end result will be a much nicer and larger reef tank

Here are few pics of what is left:








Olive and Roxy:

[~RuSh~]

Zoas are looking great... too bad about the LTA... man that guy was awesome. I've never seen a picture of an LTA that I liked except yours HFFF, that thing was sweet.

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Yea the LTA was pretty hard to part with. I knew that he was real sensitive to water conditions and given my limited availability to do WCs I thought he may end up suffering for it, so my best idea was to rehome him to another great life. I will be getting another nem but the next will either be red or green. Though decisions for sure - but life slows for no one

[Buehler]

Congrats on the engagement Glad to hear everything is going well for you. That really is a shame about the LTA, I agree with Rush that thing was amazing. Any plans for a tank upgrade?

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Any plans for a tank upgrade?

I always have plans to upgrade. If my house is not glassed in as one giant tank I am not satisfied: lol:

I am waiting to make a decision on the tank upgrade until I square away if I am moving or not. I had plans to build a reef in the wall but with surgery and the want to buy a new house the reef has been put on the back burner at the moment. I do think I am going to hit up house of tropical’s in glen burnie this weekend and fill the reef back up and to give me some time to work out the house ideas.

[Buehler]

You will need to keep us up to date on the reef and the house.

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Quick update with a teaser: I went to House of Tropical yesterday morning to pick up some new bulbs..... Came home with a new anemone, blue star fish and 6 or so heads of Frogspawn.... forgot the bulbs when the reef tanks were in sight


The below have been in the tank for about 12 hours and are starting to open.
New green carpet anemone:


Frogspawn


Blue Star:
You’re going to have to wait on this guy. He decided to check out the back of the tank where I couldn’t get a pic... but I will. This guy is f'ing awesome!
Looks like this one....

[~RuSh~]

Awesome pics! I love the carpet nem! I saw one at my lfs and almost came home with it! Blue star is looking sweet too!

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Thanks ~RuSh~

I will be getting my first acro in the coming days. It is pink with blue tips and looks wild.

[~RuSh~]

Frag or colony? Where did you order from?

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Its a colony about the size of a closed fist, I figured I had a better shot at a colony rather than a frag. I am getting it from House of Tropicals, it was under observation from shipping so they wouldn’t sell it to me without a few days of observation, I think this is how they offer their 72 hr stay alive policies.

[~RuSh~]

Awesome man. I've been contemplating some Pink birds nest myself... I've heard its a good beginner SPS. If I can't keep that alive then I'll just stick to my LPS, lol.

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

I'm not going to lie... although all of my readings are great I am still a bit nervous to try my first SPS. I will keep you posted!

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

This carpet nem is a bit different that the LTA. It inflates and deflates several times per day. Does anyone know if this is normal? When he deflates he still has great color and he is always sticky as a fly trap. There seems to be no time cycle on the deflations either. He could be full size in the light or with lights off and just the same when deflated. I know they expel the water that inflates them every so often to get fresh water and more nutrients but is it common for this to happen several times a day? Maybe he is just getting accustomed to the lighting schedule?

Here he is closed up:


And about an hour later here is is blowing back up:

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Frogspawn:


Front shot:



Top shot:

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

I am being told on one of my reef forums that since he is new to the tank that he may just be trying to get his foot down through the sand and to the glass and this may be why he is contracting and expanding so often. Sounds like a logical explanation given the good color, stickiness and that the water parameters are good.

[~RuSh~]

Frog is looking great already. Sounds like the nem is getting settled in just fine. Love the top down shots- how do you get those without taking the light off the tank?

Any word on the acropora yet?

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Thanks ~RuSh~

The acro showed a bit of bleaching in a few spots (has since stopped bleaching) but they say it was from shipping and that those few pieces will need to be clipped off. I will be swinging by House of Tropical’s this weekend to see if its up to my liking. I really want it so I may see if I can get the price down with the few needing to be clipped.

My light is suspended from the ceiling so i can just swing it to the side a little bit to snap a quick pic. I'm always nervous about dropping the phone in the water when I do that

[Buehler]

That carpet nem is going to make your old LTA look like a BTA when it is full grown.

[~RuSh~]

Can't wait to see pics of the acro. Exciting!

[Jon M]

Tanks looking great. How do you deal with the evaporation caused by not having a lid? I'm currently not using any lids and have to top off at least 3 gallons every 2-3 days.

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

Jon - I have an auto top off. It has a float valve in the sump area with a fresh water reservoir. I can leave for roughly a week without having much to worry about. If I could do it again I think I would have just pieced the auto top off together myself. I honestly think I could have save $75 + bucks if I had just went to home depot and bought the float valve, and then I could have just used any one of the extra pumps I have laying around. At the time I was readying for a vacation so I just went ahead and bought it so I could get it up and running.

[Herefishyfishyfishy]

[~RuSh~]

Carpet looks great.

How does the star do with the zoas? What does it eat?

[Buehler]

Glad to see the carpet anemone is doing well. Have you started feeding it yet?