Jahmic's JBJ 28, first reef build

[jahmic]

Asterina bottom right quadrant of the last photo

Correct!

I've spotted 2 in the tank so far. They both tend to hang out at the very top of the glass just below the water line during the day, and scavenge around the tank once the lights are off.

A couple nights ago I took a small pen-light and went looking for any other crawlers in the tank. I spotted a couple bristleworms crawling in and out of the live rock...I then decided that I better not have to move that rock again for fear of touching one of those things.

Anything with 8 or more legs is grounds for being grossed out, haha.

 

[Walter White]

I pick them little buggers out!

 

[jahmic]

The stars, or the bristleworms? Or both...?

From what I've read, the bristleworms seem to be OK in the tank, aside from their wretched appearance. The asterina stars seem to get mixed "reviews". Some say they just scavenge and ignore coral...others claim that they will eat polyps like zoas and palys. I'd be quick to assume that they only eat dead or dying polyps, but wonder if they would go for a healthy coral if there wasn't enough food in the tank for them to scavenge.

If I'm just rolling the dice on the stars being a nuisance or not, I may end up just plucking them out while there are only a pair in the tank.

 

[Walter White]

Just the stars

 

[jahmic]

It's been a while since I updated...I've basically just been keeping an eye on things as the tank settles in.

I noticed the diamond goby was spending most of his time hunting pods in the tank, and decided to cut back feeding to once every couple days to cut back on algae growth. Nothing out of hand so far, but I did notice some diatoms and hair algae popping up on the glass and back wall. I've been cleaning the glass every other day, and leave the back wall untouched...if the algae is gonna grow, might as well be there. The pair of asterina stars have since spent their time on the back wall; I haven't seen them venture elsewhere in several days.

Pics:

One of the yuma's has attached to a piece of rubble, I had transfered it to a smaller container to keep it from moving around too much...in an effort to force it to attach, and it seems to have worked. The other yuma is taking a bit longer, but it still looks healthy. I ended up losing the mushroom...it attached, then came lose, floated around, and hid in the cave. I attached it again, but the process repeated itself and it got caught in the overflow...I'm sure it would have survived, but I didn't want to lose it in the cave again and risk it taking over the tank.

Hammer coral is looking good, it's been fully extended daily, and I noticed that the skeleton started to heal a few days after target feeding it some of Elite's marine cuisine...you can see where it started healing on the bottom left.

Nuclear holocaust paly colony has started growing some new polyps...sorry about the crappy quality, still having computer issues, so no dslr images yet.

I plan on splitting that mixed paly rock to separate the colonies and hopefully grow them out. Spotted this...necrosis? on one of the polyps early on. Not sure if it is something I should be concerned about, or if it just happened during transfer to the tank. It doesn't seem to be spreading, and I haven't noticed polyps closing 'randomly' so I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about.

 

[jahmic]

Oh, almost forgot. Ailachami gave me a pretty sweet deal on a hood + chiller in exchange for my stock hood. I'm currently running a 150w metal halide with 2x18w actinics installed as well. I'm pretty sure the increased light is what ****ed off my mushroom and made it shrink and detach...it happened the day after the upgrade and I hadn't touched anything else. I moved the yuma to a more shaded area as a precaution.

Not running the chiller now as I keep my house at 72 in the winter. My temps have fluctuated from 78-81, and things seem fine. I'll definitely have to plumb it before summer though, since my ambient temp inside has crept up to 85 in the past while I'm at work. This is with no a/c though, so I may just hook my window unit back up this year and run it. This would probably limit the spawning fest in my FW setup as well...had to give away a couple fish last year when multiple species tried to claim the same corner for their eggs.

Also worth mentioning...I placed a PAR meter under the HQI hood, and although the readings are higher than the PC bulb, they are lower than expected. It's a used bulb though, so I'll be replacing it. Figured it would only help to allow the tank to adjust to the increased light incrementally...so I plan on waiting a couple weeks to replace the bulb.

 

[ShelbyJK500]

Man, you're off to the races! Looking great!!

 

[jahmic]

Pic update.

Happy acan

Very unhappy acan

Not really sure what's going on here. Dipped before putting it in the tank and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Had some closed up zoas scare me early this week, but it turned out to be amphipods irritating the zoas as far as I can tell. Two days after adding the acans, a vermetid snail "web" was stuck to the acan and it had closed up. I rinsed the acan, killed the snails...but it hasn't opened since and the tissue has been receding. Also checked my levels today

Salinity 1.025
Alk 8.5
pH 8.4
Ca 430
Mg 1410
PO4 0.03
Nitrate. 0

Hoping I don't lose this frag, but it's not looking good.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Looks good.
If your acan dies, leave it in the tank. They have a way of coming back

 

[Walter White]

I have the same problem with Acans in my jbj 28. I have zoas/palys and sps exploding at this point but still cant keep an acan for more than about 2-3 months. I still haven't figured it out. I have no predators in the tank so I can only assume one of the following or a combination of lighting, flow, insufficient feeding. Strange thing is at first they really take off and even grow then after the first month shrivel up and slowly die off.

 

[jahmic]

Looks good.
If your acan dies, leave it in the tank. They have a way of coming back

I haven't given up all hope just yet....still see the mouths so i suppose there's still a chance. I moved them yesterday as the guys at elite suggested, and I think I saw some minor improvement in appearance...hard to tell though. I had it in 2 shaded spots previously, it's now getting more light...we'll see what happens.

I have the same problem with Acans in my jbj 28. I have zoas/palys and sps exploding at this point but still cant keep an acan for more than about 2-3 months. I still haven't figured it out. I have no predators in the tank so I can only assume one of the following or a combination of lighting, flow, insufficient feeding. Strange thing is at first they really take off and even grow then after the first month shrivel up and slowly die off.

Interesting, thanks for chiming in on that. I'm ok if i end up being unable to to keep acans in this tank...but was just discouraged when it started doing so poorly after looking great the first day.

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[jahmic]

Been slacking with the updates...

The acan didn't make it, but most everything else is doing great. I recently also lost a couple newly introduced zoas too...so I went ahead and replaced the bulb last week and vowed to hide new frags under the cave completely shaded if they started to stress. The zoas I lost turned their skirts down like a mushroom, then melted. So...I carefully watched the most recent zoa frag, and one polyp reacted the same when placed on the substrate. Once it did, I stuck it in the cave just out of the light and it seems to have bounced back.

Also added what I am guessing is a male longfin fairy wrasse. He was mislabeled at elite...kinda disappointed, but he gets to stay.

Other new additions: gorilla nipple zoas, pulsing xenia, pipe organ

Pics

Nuclear holocausts settling in and coloring up

Current fts

Wrasse video
http://static.photobucket.com/playe...a333/rmitchell726/2012-03-26_21-46-18_814.mp4

 

[cdrewferd]

Looking really good.

 

[jahmic]

Thanks Drew. I keep forgetting to tell you, I have a healed up frag of that nuclear holocaust paly for you. Made a few more frags last night since this one has been looking good for a few weeks...it's a single polyp but has some babies popping out at the base.

Lemme know.

 

[cdrewferd]

Sweet. Any way you would be willing to deliver? Could make it worth your time, got another zoa frag for ya.

 

[jahmic]

Sure man, I'm headed to Elite tomorrow and could head over while I'm up North if that works for you. Had some bad luck with both of the previous frags you gave me...bummed about that, it's my own embarrassing fault though. Pretty sure it was a combination of my bulb being bad (it was the original bulb that came with the tank, and was installed upside down), and me not giving the frags enough shade to acclimate to the MH lighting...I'd also been skimming pretty heavily too, on top of running purigen+carbon. Light shock anyone? The next zoas I added after yours showed the same symptoms and bounced right back after hiding them in the cave, and are doing well. Definitely a learning experience and I'm pretty confident I can keep the next one you give me happy. Much appreciated.

 

[cdrewferd]

Sure man, anytime after 6. Just text me when you're on your way.

 

[jahmic]

Figured I should update this thread...been busy adding to the tank lately. I only have a few additions planned as far as coral go, and will basically just be letting things grow out and fill in here. I'll probably add some favia, a torch, and maybe some frogspawn.

Still undecided on the final fish...right now there is a yellow coris wrasse, longfin fairy wrasse, and diamond goby living happily together...been tempted to add a black and white oscellaris ,but don't want to end up with a 'bully' in the tank.

Here's a few low quality pics I grabbed with the phone.

FTS

Random shots

New(ish) additions...

Leptastrea - encrusting nicely at 3+ weeks in the tank.

Galaxea colony hat was added a few days ago...it's huge.

Hydnophora exesa...pics don't do it justice. Neon green base with cream / blue tentacles.

blurry photo to try to capture the colors under actinics

New zoas and duncan from reefkoi...a few minutes after adding them to the tank.

edit: check out the happy duncan an hour later.

Hopefully they tolerate the light here...if not I will have to relocate that xenia.

 

[jahmic]

Overall, really happy with the scape and my success rate with the corals so far. I've only had one casualty, which was the acan I posted about a while back. I have some ****ed off zoas...a colony of reverse gorilla nipples that I can't seem to find an ideal space for...hopefully they hold on while I move them around every week trying to keep them happy. The only coral that I'm undecided on keeping is the xenia...it has grown a ton, but has behaved so far and stayed on the one rock in the sand....see how long that lasts.

Crossing my fingers that the galaxea and hydnophora play well together at the top of the tank. I was undecided between the two, and ended up with a colony of each, lol. They are about 5-6 inches apart...and the direction of the current keeps the galaxea's sweepers away from the hydnophora. Hopefully they both encrust slow enough that I can keep some distance between the two.

Oh...how could I forget my equipment bling...

Extremely happy with the difference it made with the flow in the tank. I'm running the 2 returns constantly and was able to pull out the koralia nano. Tried running 2 nanos and it only worsened the washing machine effect I had going in the tank. MP10 solved the problem for sure.

 

[cdrewferd]

Looking good man. Wish I could get an MP10 for my tank.


Drew

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