Kimberlee

If you're giving it away I'll take. Whats the story with it?

An updated pic of the monster hammer, courtesy of Hozer. Thanks I actually find it funny that this hammer seem to get it's hands on everything, so to speak. First my birds nest frag fell, than the hammer stretched its self to attack a near by fivia. Turned parts of both coral white. There's an earlier pic in this thread I love pics

Here is a pic right when I brought it home. There was way more green, but it soon went away. It wasn't a real nice green either. The green is now coming back, and is brighter. Also orange is showing in the center of the heads. A pic under just my actinics and one under full tank lighting The color never shows up as well on camera. It bleached out, and started to color back up within three weeks during vodka dosing, and should be something in another month. The colors have just started coming back but are already more vivid. Here is another one. Went from that to this And now

I've been lucky I think. Despite some of the dumb things I've done I think I've suffered less causalities than most, and have yet to be struck w/ a disease. Knock on wood. I've only had 1 pest, and dealing w/ it was as simple as removing a small piece of rock. The stuff the LFS was trying to sell me to rid my tank of the Aiptasia that came from a rock I bought from them ( sorry I find it messed up) was more than what I paid for the rock. I just chucked the rock and avoided buying something I might not need again until it was expired any way. I think I'm also lucky that any tank crash I thought was happening, was really only happening in my head. My tank was less bothered by what was going on than I was.

OH and could some one shoot me some tips on getting the color of my corals to show up in a pic. The pics don't seem to ever do the coral justice.

Continued Now since I started keeping records of the vodka dosing I've started putting everything into a record. I have a feeding record as well as a place to document general changes. If I change something I write it down w/ date. FEEDING HABITS/ changes and info to make schedule CORALS DAY 2/23/11 all fed 1/2 cube 3/1/11 1/2 cube NIGHT Candy Canes and Fivia are the only coral feeding at night 3/2/11 fed 1/2 cube 3/5/11 1 full cube FISH 2/23/11 fed large amount of the big pack of food from Fanta seas 2/24/11 fed small amount of bloodworm mix from Rose City, + piece of silverside to the BTA 3/2/11 fed +1 silverside to BTA 3/3/11 fed +1 silverside to BTA Been feeding the cubes for three weeks. Corals have colored up a lot, but colors could also be the result of the vodka.I've been over feeding, will now stick to feeding twice a week. Day after WC, Thurs., and Sun.Except the skirt less zoos from Scott's tank, they need to be fed every other day due to condition. Need to add Phytoplankton after WC once a week for the clam And the general notes All DT notes Feb. notes Moved the tank 3 weeks ago, cyno reappeared. Started vodka dosing 27 days ago. Corals Acans The acan from Rose City was a maroon, army green, and blue when I brought it home in Dec. Over the last 2 months the color dulled or (bleached out) a little, ending up light blue and maroon. Vodka dosing started 1/28/11, almost a month ago. The colors bleached a little more. About three days ago I started to see a big change in color. The acan now shows a bright orange. The green is no longer army green. It's a bright green, blue is now strong light blue-violet. The growth on all the coral has increased, as well as them all appearing to be stronger and brighter in color. 3/4/11 x-mass fivai added + longnose hawkfish Lights 2/23/11 Ive been running the lights for 9 hrs, w/ the actinics for 1,1/2hrs at start and end of cycle. Looking to see if the longer actinic time might effect coral color. GPH skimmer 295 canister 250 4 power heads, totaling 1300 total GPH 1845+ 32x water volume Water Changes No longer using water from the vender at Safeway,5 stage RO/DI unit now provides. Done between Thurs. night and Fri. morrning. Vodka dose is increased after WC. Before old water is changed w/ new, water flow is cut off and maintenance is done. This includes removing cyno off sand bed, and algae off the glass. Than the skimmer is allowed to run for a while to clean up the water a little. Also at this time power heads and other equipment, is cleaned. Missed last Thur. Tank went weeks without WC. Did 15% following Wed. and I'm changing the day to Sun. Changes not routine fraged 2 palyps. will frag the rest after the first 2 show they are doing well. Removed cyno and small amount of the sand bed w/ it. The sand will be rinsed and put back during WC. Cyno did not recover the sand bed,during the next light cycle, after removal. Missed weekly WC, starting log over kinda.Changed out 15% 3/2/11 These are all records I've decided to start keeping the last couple of months. I wish I had kept them from the start. I think it would be interesting to compare. I'm hoping this thread might help someone just starting their tank, and I'd like knowing how other members run their tanks, and why they do it that way. There's a lot of knowledge in records like these. The thing I hear said the most is every tank is different, so we all do it a little different for a reason. The reason is the part some of us leave out of the thread.

Well thank you. I love this hobby, there is always something new and something new to learn. Now I'm waiting for my lights to come on so I can take a few after pics. I'd like to put them next to the pre vodka pics. Funny though the color doesn't show as well on film. It's amazing the difference I can see in person.

CH/9 Now we take a look at my water chemisrty Seeing as I'd like to take a crack at a carpet anemone I think it's time to look at what I do to my tank. Oh and I keep logs, not the most professional logs, but hey this is a hobby.I started keeping records when I decided to attempt vodka dosing. Yes vodka. I read a lot before I did it. I read so much that I didn't have any questions to ask when I was done. I think I did it right to, because after the first 2 weeks everything in my tank started to show 10x the color. Anyway let me see if I can copy my records to the thread. 1 1/28/11 dose .1 ml Nitrate 10 Ammonia 0 Phosophates 0? maybe? KH 8 PH 8.4 2 1/29/11 .1ml day 3 1/30/11 .1ml 4 1/31/11 .2ml 5 2/1/11 .2ml 6 2/2/11 .2ml 7 2/3/11 .2ml 8 2/4/11 .4ml Nitrate 5 Amm 0.25 Ph 0 KH 6 PH 8.4 9 2/5/11 .4 10 2/6/11 .4ml 11 2/7/11 .4ml 12 2/8/11 .4ml 13 2/9/11 .4ml 14 2/10/11 .7ml Nitrates 0 Amn 0 Ph 0 PH 8.2-8.4 morning test 7.4 KH 7 Cal 440 cyno on the sand bed 15 2/11/11 .7ml 16 2/12/11 .7ml 17 2/13/11 .7ml Nitrates 0 18 2/14/11 .7ml Amn 0 19 2/15/11 .7ml Ph 0 PH 8.4 KH 7 cal 460 20 2/16/11 .7ml 21 2/17/11 1.3ml Nirtates 10 22 2/18/11 1.3ml Amn 0 23 2/19/11 1.3ml Ph 0 PH 8.1 KH 8 Cal 480-500 Nits, could be due to 20lb of LR added 2/15/11. Added carbon to a high flow area on 2/19/11, to be left until 2/21/11 24 2/20/11 1.3ml daily Cal 25 2/21/11 1.3ml 26 2/22/11 missed dose 27 2/23/11 1.3ml Nirtates 28 2/24/11 1.3ml Amn Ph PH KH Cal 29 3/2/11 missed dosess starting at 1/2 dose .7ml and .7ml in the evning to be dosed like this the first week 30 3/3/11 .7ml Nitrates 5 Amn 0 Ph 0.0 PH 8.0 KH 7 Cal 540 Mag ??? 1050 31 3/4/11 morning .7ml 32 3/5/11 morning .7ml Had a little set back when I had to go up to OHSU w/ my husband (everything's fine), but I wasn't at the house for a couple of days, and things were neglected a little. Regular maintenance includes a 10% weekly WC, w/ Kent salt. This water now comes from an RO/DI unit in the house. Not trying to promote anything here, but the Kents salt is great. Switched from instant ocean about two months ago. The mag and cal levels are always good, and I've found no need to dose any supplements. All power heads and other equipment is cleaned on WC day. I take most of the day to do this just so I don't feel rushed and I know it's done thoroughly. Except when cyno starts to show up I leave the sand bed alone.I also take this time to ajust any corals that don't seem quiet happy where they were. The last run of test I did were three days ago, so it probably wouldn't hurt to test tonight. I always test at the end of the light cycle, but I test the PH again before the lights come on. I find a 10 point swing through out the day, and that has been constant for some time. I have no idea if that's considered a big swing or not. As you can see from my records I don't test all the time. I don't like to drive myself crazy trying to keep prefect #s. Bad things seemed to happen when I obsessed and messed w/ it all the time. I've got a couple of things non reef related to attend to. I know what could possibly need to be done that's not reef related, but as it turns out apparently there's a whole other world out there. Who knew.

Oh Hozer that hammer is a monster. I swear it's trying to reach across my tank to attack other coral. The thing is huge and has a resident clown fish. The two seem happy together, wish I was as happy about the union. This is a problem seeing as the clown has lost color ever since it hosted the hammer. I think I my need to introduce a carpet anemone to the tank to correct this. I however don't feel my tank is quiet ready for a carpet anemone, so that's the new goal. I need time to do some reading, and while I'm getting ready for that I have time to try other things like diet. Maybe the problem isn't the host. The top part of this ones head was all filled in w/ black. I'll post another pic when the lights come on, but you can get the jist from this one.

Isn't that sump pretty. I woke up to it this morning

The tank today From left to right, here is a few pics of what it now looks like. Never done changing it but I like it this way for now. the middle and the end w/ room to add That 1 red mushroom you gave me Emerald has multiplied. One of my first experiences fraging Remember the black blenny I said I never had any problems w/? Well as soon as I typed it he decided to take a bite out of my clam. Too bad I liked him, but to me being able to keep a clam is another hurdle jumped in this hobby. I like the colors they come in too. Rose City was nice enough to give the blenny a home, and I got something not likely to snack on my clam. Say hi to my hawk fish He seems happy. I think after a year I finally have a reef tank. Next the sump and a carpet anemone.

Are there other options. Things that eat or kill them? I've waited a long time for my tank to hit a year. From my point of view that's a long time to wait for the tank to grow up. Are you prepared to start that again. Really this is worse than training a puppy. Way more work way, more patience.

CH/ 8 Up Grades, additions, and still going The first upgrade I did was of course my protein skimmer. It's a Seaclone 100, made for a 100 Gal tank. It was okay until I started adding live stock. It was quickly modified, and for the record dose the job. Everything in the tank did very well for the next 6 months. With the exception of the last section. After the tank had been stable for a while, and I had learned of the forums, steelhead offered me a BTA. Which I excitedly accepted. At the time I had a coralline T-5 light fixture w/ 2 54 watt bulbs. Not enough, and even now I'm trying to get more. So I found an used retro set on this very forum. Works great, sorry I can't say who sold it to me. Please speak up, because it I haven't had 1 problem w/ it. Thx. And here's the reason I up graded. Hasn't eaten a fish yet. Because of the better lighting I was able to have different corals, so I added some. All the generosity of the nice people who helped me get to my first meeting, Where I picked up my BTA.Thx,you 2. Some more I've added over the months, as my confidants has grown. The color is showing bright green and orange. I'll post an updated pic when I get my,camera back tomorrow. As well as a clam, and magician, from Nick at Rose City which I will also post pics of latter. Thank you Nick the clams doing great. With 2 more bulbs and twice as much light, my corals seemed to be growing faster. They also kept their color, and colored up better. As of now I'm getting ready to put in my sump, and have added 20lbs of LR. 10x GPH to the tank. My tank has come a long way over the last 9 months, it is a life unto it's self. It has changed and I'll post updates soon, than we can start a whole new section.

CH 7/ All the problems Thx Hozer, and that hammer is getting big. I love love it. I know i said this 1 would be about upgrades and such, but the plan changed. I'm going to start 1 on all the problems I've run into up to this point in the tanks life. This will include all problems I created for myself as well as those we all have. I want to get some of this out of the way before the list gets too long. My first issue was changing the plan. I planed on fish, didn't even know what LR was. Bought my equipment from petco, set the tank up for fish, than went to a reef store to buy said fish. That's when I discovered the reef tank. Now I had the problem of rebuilding a set up, and upgrading so I could have a reef tank. Problems steming from this were many. ! I listened to the LFS. That day they sent me home w/ 3 damsels and 13lb of LR saying I could start w/ that and get more. I'm still adding LR, slowly so as not to upset my tank. Damsels suck. I now was also on the hunt for a protein skimmer. said result W/ skimmer in place and damsels cycling my tank I sat back for a min. Than I participated in a common noob mistake and began over stocking my tank. That's where that tomato clown in the top pic came from. With the over stocking of the tank, came 2 tomato clowns, a tobacco wrasse,(that's what the LFS said he was) a engineer goby( another mistake because it wouldn't stop tearing up the sand bed.) and 2 corals added a little later. Tomato clowns, and all three damsels perished. Surprisingly the corals lived threw all this. Oh by the way that tobacco wrasse was a candy cane wrasse. He died of natural causes latter on, the store replaced him w/ a coral beauty. Another mistake using the LFS to research instead of my computer, which is in front of the tank.So I started using my computer met you nice folks, and my tank matured. My wrasse moved on and I got a coral beauty.Cyno has been a constant problem, but the tank has stabilized. I continued to make mistakes like buying a LTA. He ate my yellow watchmen goby. He now lives in my roommates tank. Another 1 using tap water. Nothing like the unknown. The tap worked great until Portland started adding things to the water. The 1 I don't like to admit too, is turning my heater all the way up, without realizing it twice. I now have an idiot proof heater.Here's one, getting a lubocks fairy wrasse and thinking it wouldn't jump. There only supposed to jump under stress. Well the tap water thing stressed it out. I don't bring up the black blenny, because hes never been a problem.He's even agreeable when I've moved him out of the tank. I have a couple more but they belong in the story. Next chapter will be upgrades.

Thank you styler. It's getting even better.

Ch 6/ everything grows So things have grown, and I've learned. Up grades are in the near future as well. Lets start where we left off. The clowns have been in the DT for 2 months about, and they have grown. It only took a week for the bigger 1 to host my BTA. Her first night in her BTA The BTA is a little bleached in this 1 due to a heater malfunction, but it made a quick recovery. The smaller of the 2 likes my candy cane, but they are spending more and more time together. I love posting pics of these two. They aren't the only thing in the tank that has grown though. Most of my corals have not only made it they have thrived. Not to say I have it down. I contribute most of my success to all the people who have given their time and advice as well as the kicking down of a frag. Remember to share the love and thx to those of you who have. You know who you are. Still not everything has done well in my tank. I gave a green BN to someone to keep it from dieing in my tank as well as a couple others. The scoly in the beginning of the thread I have since learned wasn't healthy when I bought it, and has gone all the way down the hill. It's climbing back up really fast though. When purchased. 3 months till I learned they like to be on the sand bed and 2 weeks after someone told me how to save it, and that they prefer the sand. Next chapter is upgrades and other things I forgot.

Thx, for the frags mytshall, They're doing great in my tank, and I'm very happy w/ them. Thx, for the zoos too they are neat.

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If you do consider parting it out, I would be interested in the 800gph pump. And if I can swing maybe it the pc lighting.

PS on my last post. Heroes is 1 of the best series I've ever watched. Unfortunately they didn't continue w/ a 5th season, more than worth watching though.

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Once again thx, J.R.. I did the math on my system at 1700gph I should be running 30x my water volume. The cyno appears to be less abundant. Now I'm trying to deiced whether or not to start working on my sump or add more LR. I think when I get my sump done I'll want to add more LR anyway. Also the LR needs to be added over time so I was thinking add another 20lb put my sump together than add some more LR. Any thoughts? I can only do 1 at a time here so this wont be a quick process.

Well I've put a lot into my WC the last 2 weeks. The cyno is still present but to a lesser degree. Next I add another power head, thx J.R., do an extra WC this week and go from there. I think the next step is to get my sump together.

I'm sure mike at pioneer wouldn't mind at all and that's a big school plenty of room.