My 210 FOWLR Turned Reef

nonstophoops

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Feb 4, 2009
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go to saltwaterfish.com. 10 peppermint shrimp for $19.99. they will wipe them out in a few weeks and they are pretty good with corals. the only thing they seemed to pick on was my tiger conches, they killed all 5 of them. once in a while i will see them by my brain coral and that tells me they are hungery.
That'd be a great price if I didn't have to pay shipping. I will proly just get a handful locally. I always worry that they will start eating coral though, so I am hesitant. Plus they don't all eat aiptasia. I guess we will see.
 

Kevin8888

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Sep 14, 2009
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Uhhh yikes. For a 210 gallon tank with a "moderate" infestation the site recommends buying 17. Well free shipping starts at 19, so if I buy 19 x $16 nudibranches that is $301. I'd rather buy a freaking laser. Even 10 of them with shipping would be about $280. So best bet would be buying like 5 and getting other people to do a group buy, but I'd still be spending $80 and wouldn't even know if it would be enough to work.
They say that... But what I would do, would be put a few of the most heavily infested rocks into a small (10 gal maybe) tank, then add a handful of Berghia, once they start muliplying put everything into the display. Would save money big time.
 

nonstophoops

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Finally Picasa is working again. Never should have switched to google +, I hate it. Anyways...here are the photos I was trying to post.

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nonstophoops

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Feb 4, 2009
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They say that... But what I would do, would be put a few of the most heavily infested rocks into a small (10 gal maybe) tank, then add a handful of Berghia, once they start muliplying put everything into the display. Would save money big time.
Not a bad idea. I might see if I can get a few people locally and we can buy together to save a bit of money.
 

nonstophoops

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Well the 2 anthias are doing great, the flame wrasse is mostly hiding. Seriously, I hope I don't kill another one of these. Bellus angel and chevron tang are almost ready to come out of QT, so I need to find a way to catch my sailfin.

Picked up an Australomussa from HappyCoral and I will be getting it tomorrow. I hope it looks as cool when I get it as the photo did!!

I am picking up salt for the year this week. Our reef club is doing a group buy with a local store. Boxes of Reef Crystals, $34!!! Needless to say I am buying a lot. lol. Fleshy is getting in on the action too.

I got rid of a few colonies recently and am looking to adjust my rockwork a bit to better suite my LPS that need shade and provide more spots for SPS. Local store has so pieces of shelf rock in, so hoping I can work something with those and make it look good.

I will definitely be posting pics of all the changes as they happen. Life has gotten hectic lately, but gotta keep my tank happy!
 

nonstophoops

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Fedex didn't show until 730pm today, but my australomussa finally came!! It's a little beat up from being in the bag for almost 30 hours, but I am happy with how it looks. It actually has a couple patches with a little bit of green in it too.

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Also picked up a random millepora from the store today. Saw a bit of promise in it, but it is pretty browned out, so we will see what happens.

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Picked up some sweet shelf rock also, going to make a structure that will look better on the right side of my tank and be better suited for an assortment of SPS.

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Some other random shots. 1st one is the length of the tank. 2nd is the green millepora I got as a small frag a year ago from Fleshy. Finally turning back to the green it was and still growing like crazy. I've cut a handful of frags off this baby too. 3rd is of my clowns that are growing up fast. Just can't get a focused pic of them.

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BigCountry

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Mar 6, 2009
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Found a thread over on reefcentral of a guy actually making his own rock with white portland cement, crushed quarter down limestone, water and crystal water softener salt. CRAZY lol
:D
 

nonstophoops

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Found a thread over on reefcentral of a guy actually making his own rock with white portland cement, crushed quarter down limestone, water and crystal water softener salt. CRAZY lol
:D
Ya, I have done it. Not for my tanks. It is a cheap way to go, but doesn't always turn out great and is pretty darn dense. With online sites, reef clubs, and craigslist good rock can be had so cheap these days that it isn't worth making a worse product IMO.
 

Kevin8888

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Sep 14, 2009
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Ya, I have done it. Not for my tanks. It is a cheap way to go, but doesn't always turn out great and is pretty darn dense. With online sites, reef clubs, and craigslist good rock can be had so cheap these days that it isn't worth making a worse product IMO.
Im not a fan of the rock salt method either... like you said produces dence/unsightly rocks. I preffer the 5:1 crushed coral and crushed shell, to white portland. Mixed with just enough water that it holds its shape with out crumbling our turning to mush. produces rather porus rock, that has a decend surface apearance (plus no soaking time to remove the salts) the real tick is in the skill needed to produce decent looking shapes rather then just lumps haha. For larger rocks/shelf rocks i include acrylic rods for reinforcing. To further reduce excess weight and increase surface area, I usually add small/large tunnels and caves into the big pieces as well. A couple of weeks to months in a tank and you cant tell the difference! If you don't like how some of the pieces, hit em with a hammer a few times, then used those chunks in some of the larger ones, nothing wasted.
 

nonstophoops

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Feb 4, 2009
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Just did some tank maintenance including cleaning my return pump for the first time in a long time. I was starting to have cyano creep into the tank in spots which I have not had at all before. That is when I noticed my flow through my overflow had slowed considerably. Pulled the return pump off and opened it up, it didn't seem too dirty, but after cleaning and hooking it back up it made a huge difference. Hopefully getting that flow back will make this cyano go away. If your pumps seem to be sluggish, clean em up!!

I found where my sailfin sleeps and am hoping to catch her tonight so I can put the Bellus and Chevron in. Hope I don't have to tear the tank up too much!

Going to start experimenting with solutions to kill aiptasia too. Went to Walgreens and got some needles. Didn't realize how big of a deal it is to buy them, lol. Don't think the lady believed me that I was trying to get rid of pests in a reef tank. She told me to go to a pet store. I told her that wasn't possible and that I needed some. Then I had to give my ID and fill out a form and sign it to take the needles. She also put "injecting animals with stuff" as the description on the form. HAHA. Interesting experience to say the least.
 
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