Gozer_1

Heres a couple pics of the new mushrooms. I forgot to take a pic of the four coral clump. I'll get that up later. Lights out right now.

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	RednGreenShroom.jpg (115.0 KB, 14 views)
	ricordeaFL.jpg (96.0 KB, 12 views)

COBettaCouple

wow! those are beautiful! what species are they?

Gozer_1

The red and green ones together are Actinodiscus sp. The other is (I think) Rhodactis sp. (Lavender mushrooms)

COBettaCouple

They're a great addition to the tank! When we get to our 1st sw tank, i'll have to think about mushrooms.

Gozer_1

I understand Mushrooms to be VERY good beginner "coral". They were highly recommended to me by the guys here at fishlore. The Ricordia is gorgeous. Mushrooms come in a variety of colors too. It seems to me that most polyps are pink, green or a combonation of them. A good solid Red mushroom is nice but red is also fairly common in the rest of the marine tank. Mushrooms come in BLUE. I would love to have some blue to off set the others. Although my Star Polyps glow blue in the actinic lights. Hmm anyway they are a nice addition. My only concern is their potential size. One of the shops I go to now and then (it's 70 miles away) has 2 or 3 that are like 6 or so inches across. I hope to get mine to shade the Fox. Kind of a natural cocktail umbrella lol. I just hope they don't get much bigger than 6 or 7 inches lol.

COBettaCouple

you don't happen to know a good store in Denver for SW, do you?

Gozer_1

No, I don't really go there that often. Maybe once a year or two. The last time I lived in Denver I was in 9th grade. Ummm, like 16 years ago WOW. Had to think about it lol. May have to look around this up coming trip. Depends on how long my friend is willing to hang around. I think we're just going to hit IMAX 3D Beowulf and get back home. We both have to be back to work Friday. Don't know if we'll have time for much lol. We get one day in the "Big City"

COBettaCouple

I've got to remember to ask around at the next aquarium society meeting about the best local shops and check out all the shops that we can find ourselves.. talk about temptation!

you should stay in the city more than a day - get in a good supply of pollution.

Gozer_1

So the rock I have yet to photograph is doing well. The strange unidentified polyps have begun opening at night. They look like little red elephant trunks. At night the tip folds open to reveal a crown of little white tentacles. More and more have started to open up at night. I noticed the first a couple days ago. Really need to get a pic up. Maybe someone else has seen them. The other three varieties are flourishing. However, I did see what would appear to be my very first aiptasia. The caulepa and green hair weren't enough. Now I get aiptasia. I guess it was inevitable once I started adding various rocks. They really can hide quite well. It looks a little different from what I've seen pictured but I still think it's one of "those" anemones. This rock sat at my LFS and did nothing but half die. I finally bought it because they gave me a great deal. There is stuff popping out of it that must have just been sitting there waiting for the right conditions. I see a little bit of some kind of green macro poking it's head out as well as some red streaks and a bristle worm. Not the bad kind of bristle worm. None of that stuff showed itself in the time it spent in the store. The polyps are multiplying rapidly. There are about a third more polyps than there were when I got it a couple weeks ago. They never showed a single shread of growth n the store. I kind of got them so I could see what they should look like. Sort of a boost of confidence. My tank may have a hair algae problem and a caulerpa problem (really just a phosohate proble), but at least my coral and polyps and happy and do way better than at the LFS here in town.

About that phosphate problem. I think I have it narrowed down to one of the food items. My make up water tests 0, the various additives all say they are phosphate free, so it has to be food, right? I feed Kent Marine Chroma-Plex, Two Fishies ZoPlan, Ocean Nutrition Reef Formula, frozen Brine and live BBS. As well as San Fransico Bay Emerald Entree which is a blend of various omnivore foods. I have started rinsing the frozen foods as I have heard the juice may be a source and I don't feed a whole lot of flakes. Does anyone know of any other potential phosphate sources?

Wow that turned into quite the post eh.

Gozer_1

Well here's the rock I had yet to picture. The long ones in the front are still unidentified. They straighten out at night and a small disk emerges from the tip. The disk is surrounded by about 10 little clearish white tentacles. Very strange and I can NOT find them online. Hours of searching has shown me nothing. Anyone else seen these before.

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4polyprock.jpg (280.8 KB, 17 views)

COBettaCouple

It looks great! I wish i knew SW & could help ID that, but maybe one of our SW members will recognize it.

Gozer_1

Thanks to Mike the unknowns are now known. They're snake polyps. Imagine that. Thanks again Mike.

Also wanted to update. I recently moved some stuff around and added a dry rock I've had sitting around. This batch of photos shows the new arrangement. I made a little cubbyhole for the Fox Coral so I could get it out of the flow. It likes the flow VERY gentle and I can shade it a little better when I get new rocks. Getting a bunch when I finish the sump. The one with the clown shows the newly IDed snake polyps with their neighbor polyps. I tucked it under a little shelf for the snakes. They prefer to be under overhangs. Thanks to Mikes ID I know that now. You may be able to see the Red Mushroom who has decided to attach its self much closer to the polyp clump than I'd like. The Buttons aren't to happy about being so close to the Pink Stars. The buttons along their mutual border don't fully open. I figured that would be the case but went ahead a bought the clump anyway. I was hoping the Buttons would spread to the nearby rock. Unfortunately that's where the Mushroom decided to live. Oh well, I'll just have to pick a new spot for the clump when the big stand swap sump project happens. Should'nt be too much longer till I get the stand done. Had some financial delays getting the materials lol. Christmas is good like that.
Anyway, I have 5 more photos for you in the next post.

PS. Just pretend you don't see those water spots on the back of the tank. I set it way to close to the wall so I have a terrible time getting back there.

PPS. Take note in the much lower quantity of yucky algae. I think I'm getting somewhat under control. YAY

PPPS. BTW I got my phosphates to 0. Hope they stay that way lol.

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	fulltankfront55.jpg (103.0 KB, 25 views)
	55fullleftangle.jpg (120.5 KB, 16 views)
	foxhole.jpg (120.3 KB, 18 views)
	clownandpolyps.jpg (149.2 KB, 17 views)

Gozer_1

Here's some close ups. One of the clown hanging near the Colonial Featherdusters. One of the "Hairy" Mushroom. The Pseudochromis hanging by a Zoo colony. The Green Star Polyp picture shows how prolific colony dusters can be. You can see one sticking out from the polyp colony. The last is a neat picture I got of my Turbo Grazer climbing back out of the skimmer box.
Hope you enjoy the pics. I think I may enter the clown pic from the last post in the January Fish of the Month. So, make sure to vote for me lol

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	clownanddusters.jpg (145.6 KB, 9 views)
	hairyshroom.jpg (137.4 KB, 8 views)
	pseudoandzoos.jpg (119.6 KB, 9 views)
	starpolypswithduster.jpg (94.4 KB, 8 views)
	TurboFL.JPG (60.3 KB, 17 views)

COBettaCouple

looking great in there!

agsansoo

Gozer,
The tank looks better and better every time you post pictures. Hey are you running an under gravel filter ? Is it reverse flow ? There's a guy who has a 30+ year old saltwater tank who swears by them.

Gozer_1

No UGF. I just made longer intakes for my powerheads. I have a big canister that is kind of an external UGF. It's basically a bucket full of porous rocks and pebbles in a canister. I don't like having any filter I can't pull out easily. Thr canister is easier to clean out once in awhile.

Well, I just did a bunch of water tests and I think I'm close to getting things figured out lol. Here's my results and my plan of action.

Ammonia\Nitrate\Nitrite\Phosohate - Big ol ZEROs

PH - 8.3 Always is AOK

Silicate is negligable but present in the low range. (boo)
May add Phosguard to remove the Silicate.

Iodine - 0.015 (boo) Should be higher. As much as 0.06 I believe.
Gonna have to pick up a supplement.

Alkalinity - 5 meq/L AOK

Calcium - 420 mg/L AOK

Magnesium - 1000 mg/L (boo) Should be 1,300.
Gonna have to supplement.

Strontium - I have no test but I assume it's similar to Magnesium, so (boo)
Supplement also.

That's it! So I think I just need to supplement a tad more and I'll be right on target. Added quite a few new polyps and such lately. Must be catching up to me in the unsupplemented areas.

The Fox is loving life in it's new cubby hole. I swapped the two end rocks (the pillar and the large left rock) to help shade the Fox. Amazing how big they can get when fully expanded. It's color is darkening up a bit too. I blame that partially on the recent addition of Kent Marines ChromaPlex to my regimen. Very red food stuff. The Fox has gotten a lot darker pink since I got it. A little shade was just the cherry on top for it.

Wolfgang8810

how hard are fox corals to take care of? how big do they get? would i be able to get away with one im my 24 gallon pod with 68 watts of cf over it?

Gozer_1

Sure, though it can open up pretty big when it's really happy. It likes to be fairly well shaded and very little current. When they get those two things they open to an amazing size. About 5 inches across. It has a hard skeleton so, you get the length of the skeleton 5 inches wide. I have about a 3 inch wide piece and it expands to about 5 X 8. The edge in the light doesn't expand as fully. So this LPS does great in low light and low current and is very easy to care for. It shrinks up to almost nothing but a skeleton at night.