October 31 Days Photos

[Mark Shelly]

Day 28 Sometimes new fish go into hiding or are a little shy when you put them in. My diamond or orange spot goby decided my tank needed re-sandscaping changing my flat bottom into piles of sand with holes under the rocks on his first day in the tank. When the goby was sifting through the sand, my yellow wrasse would stay nearby looking for pods escaping. He would get shown the mouth if he got too close.

Evidently it is not afraid of the tank mates as it posed for me.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Day 29 Coraline algae. Conditions that are goof for coral are often good for coralline algae, whether you want it or not. I got rocks and sometimes corals for the coralline algae they have. I know I have at least 4 types. My favorite is the bluish purple alga that appears to grow from inside the rock and fill the pores. You can see it under the Duncan below. I also have a pinkish type that seams to cover the rock with a light colored growing tip. There is some dark red in the picture below near the blue mushrooms. It is newer and hasn't popped up in many places yet.

This picture shows the bumpy nature of the pinkish coral (a little darker in this picture) and another uncommon one that lifts off the corals. When I look at some of the brighter tanks, I don't see as many types.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Day 30. As the month winds down, I thought I would share these last 2 photos. The first feels like it should be alien. It is a paly illuminated by UV as perceived by the camera.

In this last picture, my yellow tang decided to check out my new rock anemone. The anemone is attached to the jar in which I brought it back from the October Meeting at Mike's house. I am trying to get it to rest in the sand or on a rock, but have not been successful so far. The sand next to it was from the goby mentioned a few days ago, showing they can keep the sand clear that they can reach.


Are there any volunteers for November? If so, be the first to post below. As a suggestion, take your pictures first and organize them into days for easy posting so you are not rushed each day. I will follow this tomorrow with 2 full tank shots and a few days after the photo contest ends with a few pictures related to it.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

Day 30. As the month winds down, I thought I would share these last 2 photos. The first feels like it should be alien. It is a paly illuminated by UV as perceived by the camera.
View attachment 14347
In this last picture, my yellow tang decided to check out my new rock anemone. The anemone is attached to the jar in which I brought it back from the October Meeting at Mike's house. I am trying to get it to rest in the sand or on a rock, but have not been successful so far. The sand next to it was from the goby mentioned a few days ago, showing they can keep the sand clear that they can reach.
View attachment 14348

Are there any volunteers for November? If so, be the first to post below. As a suggestion, take your pictures first and organize them into days for easy posting so you are not rushed each day. I will follow this tomorrow with 2 full tank shots and a few days after the photo contest ends with a few pictures related to it.

Looks good @Mark Shelly Hopefully someone picks this up and does Nov.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Day 31 I figured I would keep the full tank shots for last. You can see from previous pictures that is it possible top keep fish, soft corals and some LPS in a tank without a refugium. This first picture is a shot first thing this morning under the blue only lighting. Many of the zoas and the Green Star Polyps weren't open yet. Can you spot the 5 fish that are out?

The second picture is an hour later with all the lights on. Can you spot anything unusual?

Did you spot my new goby pulling a yellow tang in the small jar?

A few notes on my tank. It is a 65 gallon tank only visible from the front. It has over 100 pounds of rock for live rock. A few of the bottom pieces are Texas Holy Rock (Limestone with big holes in them). They provide many swim throughs even fore the tang, most of which are not visible. There is some base rock in the middle topped with previously used and cleaned live rock. This is not the most aesthetically pleasing open live rock landscaping, but was meant to both make up for no sump and provide hiding places for reef fish. Note that the rock is too close to the sides in a few places which interferes with magnetic cleaners. You have seen the fish. There is also an emerald crab and plenty of hitchhikers. I have an oversized Reef Octopus hang-on skimmer, an Aqueon power filter, an Eheim canister filter, and 2 heaters. For lighting, I have 2 Orbit marine strips, low light compared to most SPS and LPS tanks. These shine through a glass lid. I replaced a T8 kit bulb with an actinic as well. Lighting is not great and probably only provides 100 to 200 PAR at the top, but appears enough for the limited LPS I have as all have grown and divided. I was trying for redundancy with the system. The heaters alone are slightly undersized for the tank, but should not overheat it too much if they fail on. The canister filter pads act as filter socks, provide charcoal, and takes top surface water down. It is also hooked to a battery backup to keep the tank oxygenated. The tradeoff is that the pads need to be replaced more often in a mixed reef tank to avoid nitrate and phosphate spikes. I probably should disconnect the canister, but since it is working, I am hesitant to change it. regular cleaning of the canister is also required. Lastly, I change 5 gallons a week with LFS-purchased saltwater, so my maintenance costs are mainly water and filter pads. I am just starting to need to supplement for calcium, carbonate, and magnesium. I don't have a good technique yet, nor the room to automate or prepare my own RODI water.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

Nice looking tank and thank you for sharing this month. Note about the RO/DI. I live in an apartment and do not hook my system up permit. I connect it to my sink, make my water, then disconnect the unit and store it in the closet; might be something that can work for you as well.

How the rock nem doing for you? Have you tried getting him out of the jar?

 

[John_H1]

i am new here any input to this site?

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

i am new here any input to this site?

John welcome. Not sure if you mean any input as to where to make suggestions but if so I just posted this Website 3 months review

If you more looking on where to start the best part to start is with a "Tale of the Tank" to let everyone know what your running. Tale of the Tank

Feel free to ask questions and hopefully you are thinking about our frag swap on the 12th. NJRC Frag Swap Attendee Tickets

 

[Mark Shelly]

Nice looking tank and thank you for sharing this month. Note about the RO/DI. I live in an apartment and do not hook my system up permit. I connect it to my sink, make my water, then disconnect the unit and store it in the closet; might be something that can work for you as well.

How the rock nem doing for you? Have you tried getting him out of the jar?

I tried several times but no luck so far. The last picture is from this morning and shows it is not attached to the side anymore. But it looks like it is stretching up. My guess it would take over an hour and 1/2 to do 5 gallons with most units so it does appear doable. And if you forget, it just goes in the drain.

 

[Trio91]

Run kalkwasser in you ATO @Mark Shelly , this will supplement elements along with water changes

 

[Trio91]

Pick up a Rodi "buddy" unit that you can plumb under your sink. Something rated for about 50gal a day should work @Mark Shelly

 

[Trio91]

LifeGuard Ro Buddie 4 Stage+di 50gpd {bin-2}

 

[Trio91]

Reef Aquarium Calcium Supplementation: Kent Marine Kalkwasser Mix

 

[art13]

I use the ro buddie as well, cheap, but changing the filters and di is more of a pain. I'm waiting for the black friday sale at brs and getting their base 4 stage this year.

 

[Mark_C]

Mark, great photos and thanks for sharing.

 

[Trio91]

Aqua life makes these new twist units
@Mark Shelly and @art13

Aquatic Life Twist-In 100 GPD 4-Stage RO/DI System - Marine Depot

 

[art13]

Aqua life makes these new twist units
@Mark Shelly and @art13

Aquatic Life Twist-In 100 GPD 4-Stage RO/DI System - Marine Depot

The only issue i see with them is the DI cartridge is not refillable, and a lot more costly than getting the refill bags from brs. That unit in a 3 stage with an add on canister from brs would work though.

 

[Trio91]

The only issue i see with them is the DI cartridge is not refillable, and a lot more costly than getting the refill bags from brs. That unit in a 3 stage with an add on canister from brs would work though.

True, the cartriges are also not interchangeable like a generic rodi unit (like what I have)

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

I use the ro buddie as well, cheap, but changing the filters and di is more of a pain. I'm waiting for the black friday sale at brs and getting their base 4 stage this year.

I have the 75g/day plus unit (with the TDS and pressure gage) from BRS and love it.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Thanks for the info on the RODI units. I have been checking them out. I like the one video from aquatic life where they hooked up the output to a sink faucet (where you might keep a soap dispenser or extension spray). I didn't see RODI replacement canisters anywhere, but that may just be due to it being a new item.
Here it the last picture I mentioned. It is of Stomatella snails. The black kind is more common I think. But I have a few large ones that fluoresce and numerous small ones. I didn't notice the florescent lines until I did c close-up photo. I haven't seen other mention or photo of this before. I didn't post these pictures before due to the photo contest. the red lines showed up under UV. They look so fake.

I turned on the lights to get a photo before it could get away. It moves away from UV light. You can faintly see the red lines. They appear to be perpendicular to the growth rings.

I took a picture of another one yesterday.

Here is the normal black type.