twisteds salty adventure

[Parrothead]

good point! ok, ill rephrase. just a lion tank not tied in

[metalhead]

You could probably keep a nice big eel in there as well!

[twisted]

the more think about it, the more i like it. the tank will most likely be stocked with dwarf lions since the voltile get rather large. this tank will have a dsb and about 50 lbs of lr. im not sure if ill do a sump since it wont be heavily stocked. im thinking 2 or 3 fish along with some bottom critters. something else ive been thinking about is a clown fish tank. beth likes both clowns and lions so its a tough decision and she isnt helping other than saying she wants either one. i shot down the idea of seahorses since i dont want to add a fuge or hatchery to the equation. the tank will be for the babies room so if i go with lions the top will be locked down with crate or something. im sure she is going to add a snowflake eel to her list also so ill have to seal it up. i would rather do clowns but she has claimed the tank as Her tank. but her tank will be my work of course. if we go with clowns, id like picasso's or some of the cooler looking ones but gotta do some research on them. as you can tell, im sorta scatterbrained on this so basically, it'll be a tank with rock and sand for a good while. i told her nothing from my tank will go in hers and she is going to have to wait for the whole cycle and everything. no shortcuts.

[twisted]

You could probably keep a nice big eel in there as well!

hey metal! havent seen ya in a while. how ya been?

[metalhead]

hey metal! havent seen ya in a while. how ya been?

Doin' good Twisty, just been real busy at work here lately.

[twisted]

just found my tiger jawfish down in the fuge for the 4th time. each time he goes down there he works on a cave he made in the cheato near the surface. he took some empty hermit shells and some rubble and laid it around the top about 1" under the surface. i guess ill leave him there since hes determined to be down there. he's been lucky that each time he's ended up down there are days i dont have the sock on the overflow pipe. i can spot feed him from the top and it pretty much takes it right from my fingers. very cool fish and fun to watch, ashame it doesnt want to be up top though. at least the lawnmower has some company down there now

[Parrothead]

Are you sure its cheato you got in the sump

[twisted]

Are you sure its cheato you got in the sump

the guy i bought it off said it was cheato

[Parrothead]

I think Zach has to finish the change over, can't open or link to your pics

oops, they're working now

[twisted]

I think Zach has to finish the change over, can't open or link to your pics

oops, they're working now

i like the new look to the site! thanks Zach!

[twisted]

alrighty! beth and i are outta here! heading up to the shops up north. Hope you guys have a great day of labor, i mean great Labor Day and ill catch ya's tonight or tommorrow with some pics of the new adds. im gonna take shots of them in the store tank and then mine so i can see how much of a color difference there is between them. im hoping the super act and fiji add a nice pop to the tank!

[Parrothead]

Have a good trip, enjoy

[Zach]

Beautiful looking corals! I can't wait for more pictures. Have a safe trip!

[twisted]

Beautiful looking corals! I can't wait for more pictures. Have a safe trip!

thanks zac. we did pretty good today
the one store closed before we got there but i scored my first chalice which looks real nice. the mrs talked me into a carpenter wrasse and some kind of polyps she liked. i cant wait to thow the new bulbs in. have any of you fed reef roids? i coulnt find any oyster feast and the owner said he swears by it

[twisted]

everything acclimated to the tank last night over about 2 hrs and looks real nice! im stoked about the chalice i got. its a piece about 2 by 3" and surprised me last night by the size of the sweepers that came out. the polyps beth picked out are alveopora. im not too familiar with them other than its a little bit of luck keeping them. the carpenter wrasse looks real healthy and shacked up under the star polyps last night and this morning has brought some attention as its checking outhte tank. i picked up a super act and indigo from uvl yesterday and cant wait to see what they do for the tank. the store i got them from had a similiar setup there but with a tek fixture but the same bulb combo i have set up now and the corals looked awesome. ill get some pics up in a few hours when some lights come on. hopefully there wont be so much white in them now that there is a better color mix in the bulbs.

[twisted]

heres a video i just took. i havent watched it yet so i dont know if its as bad as the other one and then the others are a few other pics.......EDIT-ok, at least my eyes didnt hurt this time. oh, well


one of the new guys


beths new alveopora. its an awesome blue with just act on. in the background are my purple deaths that have found a spot they like. i think i had them too high in the tank before and they seem to be doing better and even showing some new polyps.

my first chalice. the pic doesnt show it, but the eyes are actually pink and the skin is blueish, red and green.

[Parrothead]

Looking really, really good, nice adds

[twisted]

Looking really, really good, nice adds

thanks parrot. i really like the wrasse we got. i figured it would just hide and come out at times but it spends the entire day just swimming around the tank. i didnt think id like the alvepora but it actually looks pretty decent in the tank. it will look even better when i figure out how to set the bulbs up. when just the super act and an act+ are on the tank looks really cool but i cant get a good pic without the blue washout.

yesterday while i was bored i picked up stuff to make an algae scrubber so that will be todays project. i read alot on it and think its got alot of advantanges. heres the site ive been reading from. what do you think?
Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!

[Parrothead]

algea scrubbers have been around along time, I'll read through the thread later today when I get in from work, I know they can help keep algea out of the tank, and algea does feed on nitrates etc, I don't know about replacing the skimmer with one.

[twisted]

algea scrubbers have been around along time, I'll read through the thread later today when I get in from work, I know they can help keep algea out of the tank, and algea does feed on nitrates etc, I don't know about replacing the skimmer with one.

i dont think id remove my skimmer but ill give the scrubber a shot and see if i see any benefits.
i jsut got back frommy bosses house, his rbta split and he gave me one. its pretty big so the roon may divorce all the other corals now. heres it is


after i acclimate it ill get another pick. now i just gotta try to prepare the tank for a roaming nem

i gave the nem an hour and 20 minutes to acclimate. i brought some of my water over to my bosses so we could test them together and our salinitly's were spot on and the cal was only 20 pnts different. he keeps his at 510 and mine was 490. everything else was real close. so, the nem is in the tank and id swear the nem was wagging its tail saying "oh, man! this is the best day ever!" when i first started a salt tank i put a nem in way too early. it went through alot of abuse with the roon and i do think the nem was too small for him and it just got beat to death along with some param swings. its been a year since that incident so i think i have a much better chance this time. the nem is alot bigger this time and i think they will be happy together. i think the only issue is gonna be between the roon and my bicolor blenny. his hole is right next to the hairy shrooms and the roon has tolerated him as a neighbor, despite the blennies instagating achase around the tank. i guess time will tell but i think the roon is gonna be a little less tolerant now.
love at first sight...lol

heres a mid tank shot