|  |  | | 
July 24th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| My 55 Gallon FOWLR, Soon to be Reef, Tank!
- New pics on Page 2! -
Hey gang, I finally got around to cleaning and reaquascaping the LR in my 55 gallon tank so I took some pictures. Figure I would post them up for everyone here to check out. Not much now but soon I will be getting more fish, inverts and coral.
I have 3 tanks: a 55gal FOWLR (Soon to be reef), 35 gal Hex FOWLR (damsel haven and future frag tank), and a 20gal QT tank. MTS set it right after the 55 was set up. Haha
Livestock in the tanks are the following:
55- ~85 lbs LR, 1 Bicolor Blenny, 1 Bluedevil damsel, 11 astraea snails, 10 red leg hermits, ~18-19 blue leg hermits, 2 emerald mithrax crabs
35- ~25 lbs LR, 1 Bluedevil damsel (had to separate from the other Bluedevil cause this guy was getting bullied), 1 False Percula Clownfish, 4 astraea snails, 2 red leg hermits, 5-6 blue leg hermits
20- 2 Clarkii clownfish currently in precautionary QT
The clowns will be moved in the 55 in 3 weeks if no diseases show up. The blue devil in that tank will likely be traded in for something else cause he is a bully.
The blenny was hiding when I took the pics but I will get some pics of him when he decides to leave his LR fortress.
Just went out yesterday (7/24) and picked up one False Perc clown for the 35 gallon tank. Needed something to liven up the tank cause just the damsel was pretty boring. The clown is bigger than the damsel so hopefully there wont be too many territory issues.
Lights on the 55 are Catalina 6x54W T5 lights. Has 2 Tunze 6025's and 1 Koralia 2 for flow along with a Penguin 350 power filter and a crappy red sea prizm Deluxe protein skimmer (will be replaced in due time). RO/DI system is next on the To Buy List!
Onto the pics! They arent the best but they will do until i get better at using the SLR to take pics of the tank.
Pre LR pic (Couldnt afford LR and was waiting to buy at a later date so had fake decor in the tank)  
Post LR    
Blue damsel in the 35 tank... Love this pic! 
Clarkii's! Bad pics but they were being skittish and not very camera friendly since they have only been in the QT tank for a week.  
Let me know what you all think!
Thanks for looking!
-Ralph
Last edited by NirvanaandTool; November 26th, 2008 at 11:18 AM.
| 
| | |
July 24th, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Nice looking tank. I don't know much about SW, but love to look. I love your clowns, very cute. | |
| | |
July 24th, 2008
|
| | Fish Mentor
| Nice upgrade with the LR for sure!
Do you prefer your Tunzes over your Koralia? I'm stuck on what to get, but leaning towards the Tunzes. Everything i've heard is they outperform the Koralias and are less intrusive to the eyes. | |
| | |
July 24th, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| It's a beautiful tank, you make me green with envy  | |
| | |
July 24th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Darlene  Nice looking tank. I don't know much about SW, but love to look. I love your clowns, very cute. | I kind of jumped into it last fall and found this forum to help me out with the adjustment from fresh to salt. Learned alot thanks to the salt section here!
Thanks! The clowns are so cute. They like cuddle together and barely leave each other's side. Not to mention they kind of wiggle as they swim. Its weird to describe but its so cute to see them swim around. Quote:
Originally Posted by Slug Nice upgrade with the LR for sure!
Do you prefer your Tunzes over your Koralia? I'm stuck on what to get, but leaning towards the Tunzes. Everything i've heard is they outperform the Koralias and are less intrusive to the eyes. | Thanks. What a difference the LR makes. Not to mention it finished the cycling period in no time.
The Tunze are definitely a nicer powerhead than the Koralia. Much smaller, quieter and put out more flow (when modded they can put out ALOT of flow as well.) It depends how big your tank is. The K2 is about 2x as long as the Tunze so it sticks out alot in a 12" wide tank. But the K2 is about half the price of the Tunze so it depends on your wallet as well. I recommend the 6025's but thats cause im spoiled with them now I guess. Hope that helped some. Quote:
Originally Posted by David C It's a beautiful tank, you make me green with envy | Thanks. I feel the same way about alot of people's reef tanks on here. My tank is so plain right now. Need coral!!! haha
Thanks for all the comments everyone! | |
| | |
August 20th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Update!
Got some coral for the tank as well as 2 new fish - a Lawnmower Blenny (for some serious hair algae issues), and a Royal Gramma Basslet. Also got 3 mexican turbo snails to take care of some of the film algae problems. Also moved the 2 Clarkii clownfish into the 55 where they made a nice home in a big cave in the live rock.
The coral that I got are a bunch of frags from a local NJ reefer - leather, zoa, mushroom, button polyp and green star polyp.
Lost a fish as well - lost the false perc clownfish sadly. He wasnt eating much - only live blackworms which are a freshwater food so I just think he wasnt getting the correct nutritional value. He didnt eat anything else including frozen brine and live brine. Its a shame but I kind of expected it to happen from the way he was eating. Plan to replace him with a tank raised false perc eventually.
Anyway here are some new pics of the tank. Please ignore the abundance of algae in the pics. Picked up the LM blenny and turbo snails to take care of that. Also switched from using tap water to RO/DI water from my newly acquired RO/DI system from Air, Water, Ice Inc. The algae is much less now, slowly winning the battle against it. But some of the pics are about 2 weeks old showing the amount of hair algae the tank had in it.
No pics of the gramma yet either. He's still too new and is kinda skittish right now.
Onto the pics!
Bicolor Blenny saying hi! 
Bicolor and Lawnmower Blennies. The BC looks like he's talking. Probably saying how he doesnt like all the hair algae in the tank! Thats why tap water is the devil! 
Invert Time! Blue Leg Hermit! 
Red Leg Hermit 
Emerald Crab 
The King of the Tank.... Blue Damsel. But not for long! 
Clarkii's when they were in the dirty QT tank. (Havent taken a pic of them in the 55 yet) 
Coral!
Button Polyps  
More Coral Pics in the next post! | |
| | |
August 20th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Leathers  
Zoa's  GSP 
Mushroom 
Thats it for now!
Should have some new pics soon though. Switching over to sand and will get some pics of the Royal Gramma.
Thanks for looking!
-Ralph | |
| | |
August 20th, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| I love the new pictures. Thank you for sharing them. | |
| | |
August 21st, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Great pics!!
Have you had an issue with your emerald crabs and your corals? I had to take mine back to my LFS because they started mowing through my yellow polyps. | |
| | |
August 21st, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Darlene I love the new pictures. Thank you for sharing them. | Thank you for the nice comments and thanks for looking! Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil_Fan Great pics!!
Have you had an issue with your emerald crabs and your corals? I had to take mine back to my LFS because they started mowing through my yellow polyps. | Thanks!
So far no, the emeralds are actually well behaved. I have 3 in the tank currently and havent noticed them chowing down on any coral. Maybe its cause I have an abundance of algae for them to eat? They usually just stay hidden in the rocks and eat the algae on the inside of the rocks.
I saw your thread about your emeralds eating your yellow polyps, are they still doing that? If mine start eating coral, its back to the LFS for them! | |
| | |
August 21st, 2008
|
| | Moderator
| Look good.  You'll really going to like the sand better. Remember to get fine sand if you can. | |
| | |
August 22nd, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by agsansoo Look good. You'll really going to like the sand better. Remember to get fine sand if you can. | Thanks agsansoo! You are the one who helped spur my change from a fowlr to a reef. So thanks for the inspiration!
Yea I cant wait for the sand. The cc is getting to look really dirty and with so much LR in the tank, I can barely clean it with the siphon.
Yep. Going to get fine grain aragonite sand. Should be picking it up tonight so new pics should be posted once the sand is in the tank. | |
| | |
August 22nd, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| what does fowlr tank mean i see it alot but i cant figure it out | |
| | |
August 22nd, 2008
|
| | Moderator
| Fish Only With Live Rock
Neat tank. I really like the change from resin decor to live rock. It's really beautiful. | |
| | |
August 22nd, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| that makes sense, thats easier to do then spelling it out like that lol | |
| | |
August 23rd, 2008
|
| | Master Of Fish Poo!
| | |
| | |
August 23rd, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Thanks for the nice comments everyone!
I'll have some new pics up soon!
Just swapped the crushed coral for live sand (went with a mix of black and white aragonite fine grain sand) and in the process removed the blue damsel from the 55 gallon tank cause he was being a big bully to the clownfish. Also picked up 2 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp for the 55 when I picked up the sand.
Just need to reorganize the live rock later today - couldnt see to do it last night and I want to let the tank settle some before redoing everything again. | |
| | |
August 27th, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by NirvanaandTool
So far no, the emeralds are actually well behaved. I have 3 in the tank currently and havent noticed them chowing down on any coral. Maybe its cause I have an abundance of algae for them to eat? They usually just stay hidden in the rocks and eat the algae on the inside of the rocks.
I saw your thread about your emeralds eating your yellow polyps, are they still doing that? If mine start eating coral, its back to the LFS for them!
| I took my emeralds back to my LFS. I still haven't replaced but am thinking about it. On the plus side, my yellow polyps have since rebounded. I went from a low of about 4 polyps left to having around 30 or 40 now. | |
| | |
August 28th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Oil_Fan I took my emeralds back to my LFS. I still haven't replaced but am thinking about it. On the plus side, my yellow polyps have since rebounded. I went from a low of about 4 polyps left to having around 30 or 40 now. | Well glad to hear the polyps bounced back well!
I'm going to keep an eye on my emeralds after hearing about yours. So far noone's really touched the coral besides a hermit or two who decided to walk ontop of the buttons). Thanks for the heads up on them.
I'd just replace them with some hermits or something - wouldnt want to chance getting more emeralds that might eat coral again.
Im going to try to get new pics soon - sand is in and the live rock is all restacked nicely.
I did some fish rearranging too. Moved the bicolor blenny from the 55 and put him in the 35. He was fighting with the lawnmower blenny and there was no point for 2 algae eaters in one tank. He's now happily chomping down on film algae in the 35 while the LM is doing the same in the 55. | |
| | |
September 7th, 2008
|
| | Fish Bum
| nice tank, btw its spoolin from crsx | |
| | |
September 10th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Haha yo dude. Whats going on? CRSX crew on Fishlore? Uh oh....
Thanks.
I need to take new pics now. Said I was going to do it like 2 weeks ago and never got around to it. | |
| | |
November 26th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Got some new pics to post..... And a few (or alot of) new updates....
The gramma didnt make it - it had velvet but I wasnt able to treat it in time. It looked like it was going to make it without treatment and then all of a sudden it died overnight after I started a copper treatment. Just glad it was in the QT tank. Would have SUCKED if it was in my display tank.
Also, my lawn mower blen died as well. Think he just ate himself out of food in the 55 - he wouldnt eat any processed food - spirulina algae, formula 2 frozen food, formula 2 pellets, flake - nothing at all. So now my tank just has the snails and hermits for algae control - but there isnt much since I started using ro/di water.
Also picked up 2 sandsifting starfish and some nassarius snails for sand bed cleaning.
So after a fallow period to kill anything in the QT, I picked up a small yellow tang and put him in the QT. He did awesome in there with no problems and is now in my 55 with the 2 clowns doing great. He eats like a pig. During this time I also added a Pulsing Xenia coral and a bunch of Yellow Polyps on a nice sized rock. And about the tang, I know the tank is too small for him but I'm working on getting something a little bigger, possibly a 120g or bigger. He should be happy in that!
Now a Sixline wrasse is currently getting used to the quarantine tank, awaiting to be put into the 55 gallon tank.
Also added 2 peppermint shrimp after an EXTREME aiptasia outbreak. Also treated aiptasia that we saw with Aiptasia-X.
Now onto some older pics from October 5-8th. New ones from this month will be soon.
10-08 
From outside my house - I love the way the Actinics light up the room - and yes thats my one dog trying to figure out why I'm outside and he's not.    
10-05     
More pics in the next post.
Last edited by NirvanaandTool; November 26th, 2008 at 11:20 AM.
| |
| | |
November 26th, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| | |
| | |
November 26th, 2008
|
| | Fish Bum
| Pretty fish and tank! | |
| | |
November 27th, 2008
|
| | Moderator
| Looks great. Your really going to enjoy the tang. I can hand feed mine and he always swims circles around my hand when it's in the tank. They are a great addition to any mid to large tank.
Last edited by agsansoo; November 28th, 2008 at 05:37 PM.
| |
| | |
November 27th, 2008
|
| | Fish Mentor
| Magnificent Tank Pictures
Love The Clowns
From Matt | |
| | |
December 1st, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by krazykid933 Pretty fish and tank! | Thanks. Quote:
Originally Posted by agsansoo Looks great. Your really going to enjoy the tang. I can hand feed mine and he always swims circles around my hand when it's in the tank. They are a great addition to any mid to large tank. | Thanks man. I love the tang. Best addition to the tank yet.
Mine's not as friendly as yours just yet though - he's still a little skittish while I am around the tank but he's getting better. I can hand feed my clowns though - my female clown is so not afraid of me. In fact she has been attacking me lately when I get too close to her cave. She's the dominant one in the tank for sure! Haha!
I think my next addition will be a BTA for the clowns. Quote:
Originally Posted by matt Magnificent Tank Pictures
Love The Clowns
From Matt | Thanks for the compliments Matt.
I should have more pics coming soon taken about a week ago. | |
| | |
December 1st, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| What is that pink/purple fish in your first series of photos? My girlfriend said she wants me to get some kind of pink fish (the only purple one she kinda likes is a Royal Gramma, but she says it's an "LSU fish" and isn't acceptable here in Auburn, lol).
My last trip to Optimum Aquarium in GA found no pink reef-safe fish, so I'm very interested.
Tank looks great, BTW! | |
| | |
December 1st, 2008
|
| | Fish Helper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by au01st What is that pink/purple fish in your first series of photos? My girlfriend said she wants me to get some kind of pink fish (the only purple one she kinda likes is a Royal Gramma, but she says it's an "LSU fish" and isn't acceptable here in Auburn, lol).
My last trip to Optimum Aquarium in GA found no pink reef-safe fish, so I'm very interested.
Tank looks great, BTW! | Haha oh man. Cant have the rivals colors in your fish tank! Thats unacceptable! lol
In the very first set of pics in the first post, thats one of my blue damsels - but he is a very bright blue. He kind of looks purple in some of the pics with flash on my camera but he really is a very bright blue color.
In the second set of pics, the purple guy is my Bicolor blenny. He is a dark purple with a yellowy-orange tail. He's an algae eater and is a nice addition to a reef tank.
You might be able to find a pink flasher wrasse of some sort. Not sure what other pink fish there are besides pink Skunk Clowns.
Thanks for the comments. | |
| | |
December 1st, 2008
|
| | Fish Keeper
| Ok, I see it now.
I was actually born in New Orleans and was an LSU fan before I was an Auburn fan (my LSU pennant hangs above my AU pennant in the den) but since I give large sums of money to Auburn in exchange for knowledge, I am a fan here as well, lol.
I haven't found any wrasses that have the pink color I'm looking for. The only things she's liked (since it will be "her" fish, lol) are Fridmani Pseudochromis or Purple Pseudochromis. I'm leaning towards the Purple just because of the cost. | |
| | | | |
Similar Aquarium Fish Forum Threads 
Beautiful new pics! 
