Parrothead's 55 gallon Reef

[Parrothead]

Gene,

You are running a close second to Charlie as my "Great and Wise Sage". Just kidding Charlie, I just truly appreciate all the excellent advice and exp. that you both have shared. The link you posted is the beast, so he's cool to keep in the 55?, if so thats cool

Tanks,
Robert

[charlie]

Good call Gene!!!!!

[Parrothead]

Charlie,

Did you check the link? If it likes hair algea, he's got a home for a little while anyway, don't know if I want him after I start adding corals, esp. the lps that you and I have been talking about. Have seen several sites that suggest they do like coral polyps. Scary thought. Might let him do his janitor duties then donate to my lfs. Thoughts?

Tanks,
Robert

[charlie]

This could be one of those critters where it is a crapshoot Robert. If it likes hair algae, and you have hair algae, then it seems to me that he may have a function.
Sometimes it will say they nip at polyps, and your critter may never look at one. If you are going to have a "Q" tank around, you can always remove him to that tank. See what I am getting at?

[Parrothead]

Charlie,

Good idea, since I will have the qt up this weekend, hopefully, and lee was kinda enough to help me with a small prob the client had with his tank, I printed out the 12 pages of stuff and gave it to him, he agrees, quick question remember the 14 Bio Cube I mentioned when joining this forum, do you think that would suffice for a qt tank, one small fish at a time? reason I'm asking is the only other option I have is to use the 20 gal that was going to be set up as my sump for the 55, let me know what you think about the 14

Robert

[charlie]

I think that would work, but like you said, small fish!!!!

[Seige]

Even a 10g is fine for small fish so your 14 is good. Just don't try anything big or that needs lots of swimming room. No Tangs... Your welcome. ROFL

[charlie]

Even a 10g is fine for small fish so your 14 is good. Just don't try anything big or that needs lots of swimming room. No Tangs... Your welcome. ROFL

Tangs you!!!

[Parrothead]

We all need to get out more, anyway the 14 has been up and running empty, with sw in it, not doing anything but sitting there, I really wanted the 20 for my sump, so this should work out good. Thanks Guys

Tanks
Robert

[zhenya]

The link you posted is the beast, so he's cool to keep in the 55?, if so thats cool

Robert,

I think you won't be disappointed if you keep this critter, providing that you identified it correctly.
For one, the spines on this urchin not as sharp(or long) as spines of another great algae grazer, the Diadema spp. urchin. The reason I mentioned this is because some fish (and fish keepers, too) get pricked by the long spines of the Diadema urchins, and it is quite painful experience.
I believe they don't get larger than 3 inches in diameter and most are much smaller in nature. They are rock boring (to make a nice hiding place) and mostly nocturnal.
And most of all, until you see it eat something that it shouldn't, I would definitely keep it.
I would be thrilled to have one as a hitchhiker, and since I didn;t I had to pay good money for my sea urchin Mespilia globulus.

[Parrothead]

Thanks Gene,

He does look exactly like the link you sent, at least I think it's a he, hope so, even the odds up a bit here at my house, wife, 2 daughters, female cat vs. Me and a little male kitten, I don't stand a chance, what was I thinking.

Tanks
Robert

[Parrothead]

Charlie and Gene, and everyone
Just an update, reaquascaped the tank, got a mountain in the middle spreading out to both corners, urchin is growing, and do to the miracles of modern science, Carbon and 1300 gph of flow my cyno problem is in severe remission dig, added some nass. snails, their in disney land, they love it. Plant life is rocking, got some new sponge growth as well its a bright lime green colored stuff and there is also some yet to be identified lifeforms that have recently popped up and went into hiding, see them every once in a while, mushrooms had babies again, and very much to my delight, My Greeen Star Polyp has decided to spread itself onto the neighboring rocks, question, if I wanted to seperate them once they get established is that possible without harm to the coral? Let me know guys, counting on you;).

Tanks,
Robert

[Parrothead]

Charlie,

Is this the beast that you were referring to?

AquaC Remora Pro Protein Skimmer With Mag-Drive 3 Pump

Tanks,
Robert

[cdearing]

Hi Robert,

Yes, that is the skimmer that Charlie recommended. He has one on his 80 and I have one on my 29G (soon to be 55G). Charlie is in Spokane this weekend so may not be on reefland until he gets home. He's visiting Kevin at Aquatic Dreams to pick up some some new "additions".

I would love to see how you re-aquascaped your 55G. I looked at your profile photos but all that is there are pix of your tank empty. Updates?

Cynthia

[Parrothead]

Cynthia,

Will try to get some new pics up today, there are a few pics earlier in this post that show previous scape. Congrats at looking at upgrading to a 55, I started with a 14 gallon Bio Cube, and outgrew that, I've got my 55 ablut where I want it to be, rock wise, I really want to concentrate on the remainder of the hardware that is needed, primarily the skimmer, and after that some new bulbs, I bought the fixture used and have no idea how old the bulbs are.

You are going to love the extra real estate available in the 55, I know I have, and I do plan on adding maybe another 30 - 40 lbs of rock down the road a bit, that will bring it to a total of 95 - 100 lbs of rock with 60 lbs of real live sand.

As I said I will try to get some updated pics up later today, and if Charlie doesn't pop in on reeflands tell him I said "Hey"

Tanks,
Robert

[zhenya]

\My Greeen Star Polyp has decided to spread itself onto the neighboring rocks, question, if I wanted to seperate them once they get established is that possible without harm to the coral? Let me know guys, counting on you;).

Tanks,
Robert

Hi Robert,

Congrats on beating down that cyano issue...

You can easily separate green star polyps by reaching in and cutting the mat that spead onto other rock. There'll be no harm done to the coral as a whole. ;) I used to peel that mat off the rocks and cut it into pieces and glue it on the overflow in my anemone tank. I later removed that nonsense as I had to cut it from the weir every other week (that's how fast it grew ).

As far as that skimmer goes, it is hard to beat in value.

[Parrothead]

Good Morning Gene,

Thanks for the advice on the star polyp will let it spread a bit onto the rock it seems to have fallen in love with, I believe the cyano issue was a water flow issue versus nutrient problems as everything seems to be doing fantastic, I changed out some filters I was using, I took the filter pads out of the bio wheel(pengium 330) along with removing the bio wheels themselves, had two media containers for that filter, filled them with carbon, and let it run kicked up the output from this filter, 300 gph, put an aqua tech 30 - 60 h.o.t. also rated at 300 gph, nothng in this filter, strictly flow, and then I've got the korialla 2 blast at about a 20 degree down angle going from side to side, so total gph of flow should be about 1200 gph. I noticed an immed. difference in everythng with the addition of carbon and the extra flow., Tank really looks good, Oh, the urchin is growing, and quite regularly will make day time appearences. As I told Cynthia I will try to get some current pics up today, due to the new aquascape. I'm planning on getting the skimmer very soon, and will also be adding another Korialla 2, because the skimmer will have to hang where the 30- 60 is located, I don't want to lose the flow, so with the aquac w/the mag 3 pump that it comes with and the additional Kor. 2 I should be pretty much set on water flow.

Tanks,
Robert

[charlie]

Hey Robert, sounds like things are proceeding nicely, but I like evrybody else would sure like to see the new aquascape.

[Parrothead]

Hey Charlie,

Will get some pics of the new aquascape up as soon as the lights come on, don't want to disturb the romans, they've been hard at work lately, it is looking good though, anyway Cynthia let it out of the bag about your trip to Kevin's, what did you get, also Mr. President of the NW Montana Reef Club, I checked out the club post, new store looks pretty good from the photo's, they still looking at mid april opening.

Tanks,
Robert

[charlie]

I have to clean glass before I take any pics, but I got about 10 new frags in the last couple of weeks.
I haven't heard from the guy about the store ????