Jahmic's JBJ 28, first reef build
- Thread starter jahmic
- Start date
Tank is looking great man. The only thing you might want to do is move the hydro away from the galaxia, never had a galaxia, but I did have hydropora and it was a mean coral killer. It killed off some pricey corals in the biocube. They grow fast and eat everything. I ended up giving the piece to Wicked as my tank was to small.
Honestly...I was looking for one or the other in choosing between the hydnophora and galaxea to be placed near the top of the tank. I just happened to come across both within a week. I grabbed both hoping that they would be OK next to each other long enough to decide which one looks better / does better in the tank. Now that they're both in there I'm hoping it'll work out where they can both stay...but I'm pretty sure that's just wishful thinking.
Being that the sweepers on the galaxea tend to remain above the coral...it's probably the better option for a tank this size if I'll be placing it at the very top. "Unfortunately"...the hydnophora looks so awesome that I'm hesitant to get rid of it. I'm hoping that I'm able to keep it isolated by limiting where it encrusts. Right now it's attached to a rock of it's own and on a pedestal so that it won't encrust onto the shelf or the main rockwork. I'm hoping to control it's growth by only allowing it to grow on that one rock that it's currently attached to...I may epoxy a couple pieces of rubble to that rock here and there to allow it to spread slightly, but definitely plan on keeping it off the main rockwork if I can.
Thanks for the input and the heads up on the quick growth. Hadn't noticed until you said something, but it's already healed and spreading around the sides and bottom of that rock it's on...definitely need to get moving on building up a more solid pedestal to keep this one isolated.
Being that the sweepers on the galaxea tend to remain above the coral...it's probably the better option for a tank this size if I'll be placing it at the very top. "Unfortunately"...the hydnophora looks so awesome that I'm hesitant to get rid of it. I'm hoping that I'm able to keep it isolated by limiting where it encrusts. Right now it's attached to a rock of it's own and on a pedestal so that it won't encrust onto the shelf or the main rockwork. I'm hoping to control it's growth by only allowing it to grow on that one rock that it's currently attached to...I may epoxy a couple pieces of rubble to that rock here and there to allow it to spread slightly, but definitely plan on keeping it off the main rockwork if I can.
Thanks for the input and the heads up on the quick growth. Hadn't noticed until you said something, but it's already healed and spreading around the sides and bottom of that rock it's on...definitely need to get moving on building up a more solid pedestal to keep this one isolated.
Ended up moving things around a bit. The hydnophora was showing signs of being unhappy in that spot; watched it for a week and observed the tissue receding on one side, but growing on another:
Here you can see where the tissue is encrusting over the edge where it had been fragged.
And here is where the tissue began to recede.
There was no visible necrosis or tissue sloughing off...but the corner that was looking bad was directly under the metal halide bulb so I'm pretty sure that was the culprit. It looked good other than the corner that was being blasted with light.
Decided to pull that top shelf off and swap places between the galaxea and the hydnophora. Thought about doing this when I brought the galaxea home, but couldn't commit to changing my rockwork.
Glad I decided to move it...the scape seems to flow again this way...the galaxea looked out of place before. Now I have more of an excuse to try to keep both of them, lol. The hydnophora is well in the back corner by itself...if it starts to thrive I'll grab some dry rock and build a pedestal there to keep it isolated.
Here you can see where the tissue is encrusting over the edge where it had been fragged.
And here is where the tissue began to recede.
There was no visible necrosis or tissue sloughing off...but the corner that was looking bad was directly under the metal halide bulb so I'm pretty sure that was the culprit. It looked good other than the corner that was being blasted with light.
Decided to pull that top shelf off and swap places between the galaxea and the hydnophora. Thought about doing this when I brought the galaxea home, but couldn't commit to changing my rockwork.
Glad I decided to move it...the scape seems to flow again this way...the galaxea looked out of place before. Now I have more of an excuse to try to keep both of them, lol. The hydnophora is well in the back corner by itself...if it starts to thrive I'll grab some dry rock and build a pedestal there to keep it isolated.
Yup. Been keeping an eye on them...for now the flow is directed toward the overflow behind the galaxea. The sweepers tend to travel toward the back of the tank, but I have caught the occasional stray tentacle getting within a few inches of other coral. I have everything moved away from it now, but if it grows or I decide that I want to fill in the area around it...I will have to frag it, and will likely keep the frag and give up the colony.
Had some not so great looking zoas that I picked up a month ago...they're the ones in the center of the first photo with just about no color, aside from that barely open polyp with some yellow peaking through.
Took this photo after 2 weeks in the tank...not much improvement.
View attachment 6712
2 weeks later...taken today.
View attachment 6713
Looks like blue/green mouths with a yellow rim and pink skirts? Whatever they are I can't wait for them to color up...they look sick already.
Hey Virgil, remember these
View attachment 6714
Starting to color up for me, it's looking like green mouths with pink skirts. I'll let you know when they start popping and send a chunk your way.
...I think the colors may look better in this pic...
View attachment 6715
but my fish decided to be "that guy" and swim right in front if the camera as I took the pic.
Took this photo after 2 weeks in the tank...not much improvement.
View attachment 6712
2 weeks later...taken today.
View attachment 6713
Looks like blue/green mouths with a yellow rim and pink skirts? Whatever they are I can't wait for them to color up...they look sick already.
Hey Virgil, remember these
View attachment 6714
Starting to color up for me, it's looking like green mouths with pink skirts. I'll let you know when they start popping and send a chunk your way.
...I think the colors may look better in this pic...
View attachment 6715
but my fish decided to be "that guy" and swim right in front if the camera as I took the pic.
You think so? Thanks for the compliment, and thanks once again for the frags. I wasn't sure if the birdsnest was coloring up at all, or if it was just my imagination. The polyps have surprised me with how much they've started extending; last night they were so long that most frag looked like one large pulsing ball of polyps with a couple points sticking out of the top...way cool. Thanks for potentially getting me hooked on SPS now too...it'll be your fault when I need to upgrade. HA!
Thanks Drew, your alpha and omegas are exploding in my tank. I counted 11 polyps last night on that frag you gave me...pretty sure there were only 3 on there when I got it. I think I redeemed myself after losing that first frag
Dunno if it makes a difference as far as the speed goes, but it's a "blue box" model (non-ES). I have it set on reef-crest mode and run it at about 60%, any higher and I start kicking up too much sand. I was able to turn it up to 75% by moving it up and toward the front by about an inch...but that created: a couple dead spots in the back left and upper right of the tank; a washing-machine effect at the front of the tank; and my duncans on the right were getting pounded by directional flow as the current swept across the curved front glass and toward the back of the tank on the right side. Oh...it also made the sweepers on the galaxea sweep far out to either side.
Now I have the MP10 placed so that the center of the prop is below the galaxea, this keeps the sweepers floating upwards for the most part...but I did overlook the fact that I have it set for "night mode" once the lights go out. With the decreased flow, the sweepers on the galaxea tend to wander more at night, and they definitely stung my hydnophora as a result...in light of that I may do without that night-mode setting for a few days and see if any corals react negatively without getting a rest from the flow.
Suffice to say, it's been a lot of trial and error figuring out the settings and placement that keep the corals happy, and the hardscape played a huge role in where to place it and at what speed. But, now that I have that sorted, everything seems to be happy. I think placement is probably more important than the actual settings...I could literally move the MP10 by a couple inches and **** off most of the corals in the tank. Whereas in it's current position, I've played with setting it from anywhere between 40% - 75% percent and have seen no difference aside from the amount of sand kicked up from the bottom at a higher setting (I have a mix of sugar and aragamax select)...60% just seemed like a happy medium so I went with it.
Thanks Drew, your alpha and omegas are exploding in my tank. I counted 11 polyps last night on that frag you gave me...pretty sure there were only 3 on there when I got it. I think I redeemed myself after losing that first frag
Dunno if it makes a difference as far as the speed goes, but it's a "blue box" model (non-ES). I have it set on reef-crest mode and run it at about 60%, any higher and I start kicking up too much sand. I was able to turn it up to 75% by moving it up and toward the front by about an inch...but that created: a couple dead spots in the back left and upper right of the tank; a washing-machine effect at the front of the tank; and my duncans on the right were getting pounded by directional flow as the current swept across the curved front glass and toward the back of the tank on the right side. Oh...it also made the sweepers on the galaxea sweep far out to either side.
Now I have the MP10 placed so that the center of the prop is below the galaxea, this keeps the sweepers floating upwards for the most part...but I did overlook the fact that I have it set for "night mode" once the lights go out. With the decreased flow, the sweepers on the galaxea tend to wander more at night, and they definitely stung my hydnophora as a result...in light of that I may do without that night-mode setting for a few days and see if any corals react negatively without getting a rest from the flow.
Suffice to say, it's been a lot of trial and error figuring out the settings and placement that keep the corals happy, and the hardscape played a huge role in where to place it and at what speed. But, now that I have that sorted, everything seems to be happy. I think placement is probably more important than the actual settings...I could literally move the MP10 by a couple inches and **** off most of the corals in the tank. Whereas in it's current position, I've played with setting it from anywhere between 40% - 75% percent and have seen no difference aside from the amount of sand kicked up from the bottom at a higher setting (I have a mix of sugar and aragamax select)...60% just seemed like a happy medium so I went with it.
Dunno if it makes a difference as far as the speed goes, but it's a "blue box" model (non-ES). I have it set on reef-crest mode and run it at about 60%, any higher and I start kicking up too much sand. I was able to turn it up to 75% by moving it up and toward the front by about an inch...but that created: a couple dead spots in the back left and upper right of the tank; a washing-machine effect at the front of the tank; and my duncans on the right were getting pounded by directional flow as the current swept across the curved front glass and toward the back of the tank on the right side. Oh...it also made the sweepers on the galaxea sweep far out to either side.
Now I have the MP10 placed so that the center of the prop is below the galaxea, this keeps the sweepers floating upwards for the most part...but I did overlook the fact that I have it set for "night mode" once the lights go out. With the decreased flow, the sweepers on the galaxea tend to wander more at night, and they definitely stung my hydnophora as a result...in light of that I may do without that night-mode setting for a few days and see if any corals react negatively without getting a rest from the flow.
Suffice to say, it's been a lot of trial and error figuring out the settings and placement that keep the corals happy, and the hardscape played a huge role in where to place it and at what speed. But, now that I have that sorted, everything seems to be happy. I think placement is probably more important than the actual settings...I could literally move the MP10 by a couple inches and **** off most of the corals in the tank. Whereas in it's current position, I've played with setting it from anywhere between 40% - 75% percent and have seen no difference aside from the amount of sand kicked up from the bottom at a higher setting (I have a mix of sugar and aragamax select)...60% just seemed like a happy medium so I went with it.[/QUOTE]
Yep this has pretty much been my experience as well. I messed with it for about 2 hours last night trying to find that sweet spot and didn't really get anywhere. I suppose I just need to keep experimenting. I am very temped to tune a short pulse to get some wave action going but honestly am afraid that JBJ might fail or the stand its sitting on as its pretty wobbly despite the 4 other support brackets I have added to it.. Thanks again for bringing me the palys and flippers. That was very kind of you.
Now I have the MP10 placed so that the center of the prop is below the galaxea, this keeps the sweepers floating upwards for the most part...but I did overlook the fact that I have it set for "night mode" once the lights go out. With the decreased flow, the sweepers on the galaxea tend to wander more at night, and they definitely stung my hydnophora as a result...in light of that I may do without that night-mode setting for a few days and see if any corals react negatively without getting a rest from the flow.
Suffice to say, it's been a lot of trial and error figuring out the settings and placement that keep the corals happy, and the hardscape played a huge role in where to place it and at what speed. But, now that I have that sorted, everything seems to be happy. I think placement is probably more important than the actual settings...I could literally move the MP10 by a couple inches and **** off most of the corals in the tank. Whereas in it's current position, I've played with setting it from anywhere between 40% - 75% percent and have seen no difference aside from the amount of sand kicked up from the bottom at a higher setting (I have a mix of sugar and aragamax select)...60% just seemed like a happy medium so I went with it.[/QUOTE]
Yep this has pretty much been my experience as well. I messed with it for about 2 hours last night trying to find that sweet spot and didn't really get anywhere. I suppose I just need to keep experimenting. I am very temped to tune a short pulse to get some wave action going but honestly am afraid that JBJ might fail or the stand its sitting on as its pretty wobbly despite the 4 other support brackets I have added to it.. Thanks again for bringing me the palys and flippers. That was very kind of you.
Updated pic of the birdsnest. I can't claim much skeletal growth...but the polyps have extended to the tips and seem to be opening even more. Looking happy.
View attachment 6841
Ora bird of paradise birdsnest...freshly cut before being placed on my frag rack. Also looking happy...
View attachment 6842
View attachment 6841
Ora bird of paradise birdsnest...freshly cut before being placed on my frag rack. Also looking happy...
View attachment 6842