Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank

[jimroth]

My two different blue torts have developed a ton of active growth tips and really taken off. Bubble alage or not, feeding the oyster spooge really makes a difference.

That stuff really does look gross, but it works. How often are you using it?

I've been putting in 1 tbs per day in my ~250G volume. I am going to cut back gradually to half that.

 

[jimroth]

I thought it would be fun to make a list of the corals I have under cultivation (a few are just hanging in there, but anyway...). I was surprised how many, I don't think about it day-to-day.

Acroporas!

Pink and Blue Millepora (1)
Yellow Mille with Green Polyps (3)
Sunset Mille (2)
(ORA) Nathan's Green Mille (4)
Blue Mille (7)
Purple A. Nana (4)
Purple A. Plana (X)
Crayola Plana (X)
(ORA) Purple Plasma (A. Horrida) (X)
(ORA) Pearlberry (X)
Upscales A. Microclados (1)
Green Non-Slimer (5)
Green Slimer (6)
Wild Green Table (X)
Maricultured A. Abrotanoides (12)
A. Sarmentosa (Maybe) (3)
Unknown Mille A (6)
Unknown Acro B (6)
(ORA) Tricolor Valida (8.)
(ORA) Turquoise Stag (8.)
(ORA) Red Planet (Barely hanging on) (8.)
Unknown Vigorous Tricolor (8.)
Blue Tip Stag (4)
(ORA) Miami Orchid (4)
Cali Tort (Blue) (1)
Oregon Tort (Blue) (4)
Kedd's Table (2)
Scripps Acro (2)
Chip's Acro (2)
Acropora efflorescens(9)
Green Acro w/purple polyps (10)

Poccilloporids!

Rainbow Pocillopora (2)
Ponape Birdsnest (7)
Pink Stylopora (3)
(ORA) Green Birdsnest (2)
Weeping Willow Birdsnest (FS)

Montiporas!

Green Cap Purple Rim A. (7)
Green Cap Purple Rim B. (11)
Orange Cap (12)
Elkhorn Monti (M.Hirsuta) (1)
Pokerstar (M. Danae) (4)
Sunset Monti (M. Danae) (2)
Chili Pepper Monti (M. Danae) (12)
Superman Monti (M. Danae) (12)
Yellow Monti Blue Polyps (M. Danae) (3)
Tyree True M. Undata (13)
Montipora Spongodes (5)

Cyphastrea!

Superman (13)
Lucky Charm (all Green) (15)
Tyree PPE (2)
Emerald City (2)


Other SPS-Like

Green Hydnophora (14)
Green Pavona (15)

LPS

Green Brain (Favia Palida) (Since 1999)
Fluorescent Green Brain (FS)
Tiger Stripe Chalice (FS)
Orange Acans (X)

Softies Etc.

Green Nepthea (Since 1999)
Green mushrooms with red spots (Since 2001)
Green, Orange, Rainbow Ricordea
Horrific Green Palys or Zoos

The number denotes who or where it came from, an X is something I won in a raffle, contest, duel, etc.

 

[jimroth]

Of course I forgot a couple,

Pink Birdsnest (17)
Idaho Grape Montipora Capricornis (16)

and the blacklist, RIP

(ORA) Bellina (8.)
Loisette Acro (blue green stag)(17)
Wild-hack A. Humilis (3)
Wild-hack Table Frag (3)
Blastomussa Frag (X)
Crystal Favia (X)
Several fussy maricultured Acros

 

[twisted]

Man, thats a nice collection! thats cool to be able to keep some of them for over 10 years. i hope when mine gets to that age i can say the same. you have an awesome tank. ive never heard of a weeping willow bird. i gotta look through your thread and see if i can find it in a pic...

 

[jimroth]

Man, thats a nice collection! thats cool to be able to keep some of them for over 10 years. i hope when mine gets to that age i can say the same. you have an awesome tank. ive never heard of a weeping willow bird. i gotta look through your thread and see if i can find it in a pic...

Not very impressive...it's just a tan seriatopora that grows in arc-shapes. I don't think there's a photo but the next time I take some I'll snap one.

 

[jimroth]

Did the big annual cleaning on my tall protein skimmer and suffered the usual consequences. This giant ETSS 1000 has a 5' column full of bioballs. They need to be at least cleaned every year. You can see performance start to drop as the column gets clogged. Last year they got clogged with calcium deposits. This year it was some brown jelly-like crap, I had to individually wash each of 71 bioballs (I did it outside with the hose). I also replaced the pathetic 1" strainer I had been using with a much less restrictive strainer I made myself out of PVC pipe and mesh. I de-tuned the skimmer and started it back up. I was getting some really nice performance, I guess it had been underperforming for a while, and I even turned it down a little before I went to bed.  In the morning the 5 gallon skimmate bucket was full. Thank the gods for the auto-shutoff bucket I made, there would have been a mess. Additionally, the lower float switch on my topup system stuck again, so the whole sump filed with water. The net result was 12G of water added to the system along with as much kalk as the kalk reactor could crank out in that time.
The surprise ending in this is that there's not much of an effect on a tank this big (~250g). The pH went up to 8.45, salinity dropped from 36ppt to almost 35ppt. Or from 1026 to 1025 on the swing-arm...
I drained off the excess, emptied the skimmer bucket, detuned the skimmer, added a pound or so of salt to the slow-dissolve area, and it's all good. :

 

[jimroth]

I added a couple tiny cleaner shrimps to the tank. They were a good deal. My friend (who has an LFS) has been doing some direct importing from Sri Lanka, skipping the wholesaler. If the storeowner is willing to assume the risk, the prices are pretty shocking. Juvenile imperators are $1. Adults are $4-6. All the fish are similarly cheap. Even when you add $2-4 per fish for the shipping, and accept some losses, that's amazing when you're talking about a $50-100 fish! The downside is (1) Inconvenience, he basically kills an entire day picking up from JFK, plus has to deal with US Customs and their forms, and (2) Risk, on his last shipment all his Clarkii clowns and fuscus triggers died in transit. He's had Winter shipments where every fish was DOA. He gets refunds on the fish but not on the shipping, which is a large part of the cost.

Just interesting to see it from the other side.

 

[Brando457]

How do you like the majestic so far? I am thinking of getting one for my tank in the future.

 

[jazzsam]

Did the big annual cleaning on my tall protein skimmer and suffered the usual consequences. This giant ETSS 1000 has a 5' column full of bioballs. They need to be at least cleaned every year. You can see performance start to drop as the column gets clogged. Last year they got clogged with calcium deposits. This year it was some brown jelly-like crap, I had to individually wash each of 71 bioballs (I did it outside with the hose). I also replaced the pathetic 1" strainer I had been using with a much less restrictive strainer I made myself out of PVC pipe and mesh. I de-tuned the skimmer and started it back up. I was getting some really nice performance, I guess it had been underperforming for a while, and I even turned it down a little before I went to bed. In the morning the 5 gallon skimmate bucket was full. Thank the gods for the auto-shutoff bucket I made, there would have been a mess. Additionally, the lower float switch on my topup system stuck again, so the whole sump filed with water. The net result was 12G of water added to the system along with as much kalk as the kalk reactor could crank out in that time.
The surprise ending in this is that there's not much of an effect on a tank this big (~250g). The pH went up to 8.45, salinity dropped from 36ppt to almost 35ppt. Or from 1026 to 1025 on the swing-arm...
I drained off the excess, emptied the skimmer bucket, detuned the skimmer, added a pound or so of salt to the slow-dissolve area, and it's all good. :

But you always feel better after a good cleaning!

 

[jimroth]

How do you like the majestic so far? I am thinking of getting one for my tank in the future.

I like him very much. Tough little fish! Holding his own, pushing his way to the food. A little shy but comes out a lot. Hides when the lights go out. Kind of damsel-like in his attitude towards the other fish. Pushy but not mean. The only coral-thing he's really tried to eat has been some palythoas.

 

[jimroth]

Apparently my kalk-overdose when the topup system stuck caused an alk swing. Some of my corals, notably my purple nana, faded like they saw a ghost, they look like they were washed in hot water.  ???

 

[Hawkeye]

thanks for the tip on the thermometer.

and sorry to hear about the top-off mess. Your tank looks amazing though. I can only wish.

 

[jimroth]

UGH! I had a garbage can full of tank water fall over in the family room. About 40G hit the floor. Shopvac took up most of it but still damp. Running the AC and a dehumidifier, and fans. Sadly the Xbox and Wii were right in the path of the wave, and they are none too happy.

 

[Nickjr000]

UGH! I had a garbage can full of tank water fall over in the family room. About 40G hit the floor. Shopvac took up most of it but still damp. Running the AC and a dehumidifier, and fans. Sadly the Xbox and Wii were right in the path of the wave, and they are none too happy.

Man its always somethin ain't it! Sorry, been there with the water spills. Never that much though , you got me beat there!
Btw i think your list of corals on the last page is longer than ora's.. HAHA LOL

 

[Baxreefs]

Uhg!

Sorry about the wave

 

[jimroth]

All dry now. Carpet's a little stiff. The Xbox survived for some reason but the Wii is toast, as is one of the xbox controllers.

I decided to tempt fate and redecorate in the reef today. I moved or removed some things that were struggling or had become ugly, and promoted some things that are looking great. My new centerpiece will be the Upscales Micrclados, which is growing very well. I remounted my green (Kedd's) table for more stability, since that is a piece I care about. Added a couple new rocks from my rock tub. I whacked the hell out of elkhorn monti, no more Mr. Niceguy. I also removed what seemed to be a couple pounds of bubble algae, yuck.

 

[jimroth]

Re: Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank Fotos

I haven't added any pix in a while, so here goes. Still have trouble making coral look like anything.

FTS, getting better as space fills in

This shows the sort of "centtal canyon" in the rockwork, and the new majestic angel!

This is how I usually enjoy my reef, looking down into it while leaning on the top edge.

From the end. I should have opened the shutter a little more...

Ithink this is A. Sarmentosa, got it from Pacific East at MACNA.

 

[jimroth]

My new centerpiece is going to be all this stuff, Upscales Microclados. I like it, and it likes my reef!

Cali Tort has grown so much I will need to relocate the blue millie in back. No fighting allowed among my prized corals!

In the center there is Miami Orchid, via the tank of Bax...

Copperband is always willing to pose. The Navarchus hides from the camera!

Superman Cyphastrea, continuing to do its Dr. Seuess  thing to that rock!

 

[jimroth]

Re: Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank Fotos

Tomato Clown and RBTA, perfect together!

The remaining Square Anthias, turning pink as she attempts to become a male!

The new Foxface

More later!

 

[blange3]

Lookin' really nice Jim!

I have to make the long trek someday.