Fishes and cycling update

Blogging is hard without a great camera... well, blogging about your tank certainly is. The tank is currently cycling and like many nasty looking tanks during the cycling stage, the tank right now has tons of bubbles and overgrown algae. If the corals haven't already been moved over to the big tank, I may have been able to cut theg period down, but like a true Wei, patience is just not my best quality.

So in the past couple of weeks, I guess you can say a lot more has happened to the than it should have. I got a yellow clown goby and as of today, I got a bi-color blenny. Both are of course, the tinyest fish out of the tanks but still, I know it's a bit premature.

The good news is that the skimmer is coming in on Monday. After much research, I decided to go with an Aqua C Remora. I was going to get the Remora Pro but decided I didn't want to spend the extra money when the Remora should be more than enough for my tank. As an addition to the skimmer, I also got the pre-skimmer box which will hopefully do a great job in skimming the surface of the water and stop microbubbles from flowing back into the tank.

On a somewhat surprising note, the two montipora frags that Tony had given me are REALLY coming along great, despite water conditions. One dark green frag is really coloring up to a nice lighter/neon green while the other brown one's skin is now changing to a nice tone of purple. Hopefully the success will continue as the cycling comes to an end at some point in the future.

Oh yeah, I also bought a blue tipped acropora frag from the Buckhead store today... but since that's a huge no-no, let's just not talk about that for now; at least not until I can get a good camera to show it off or show off its carcas.

Zoos! Zoas! Zoanthids!

Mark finally came over with his COOL Nikon D50 camera so of course I had him take some pics of my tank. Actually, I requested his photography skills so these can finally be presented in the way they're supposed to be on the web. Hrmm, I guess I need a new camera! Anyway, below is the beginning of my zoanthid collection.


These are one of my more striking green zoas with a neon skirt and pretty neon centers. I call these the green dragon eye zoas even though I'm not sure if they're the same kind of green dragon eyes as described on the web.


These are my green zoas where I've placed together in my green zone. Among them are some Shamrocks (aka The Hulk) and some other ones that I haven't named/or found the names for yet.


Orange skirt zoas... I really like these cause they have neon skirts.


These were given to me by Tony which are still one of my favorite zoas in my tank. The triple colors plus neon skirts is just too cool.


...and finally, white zoas with brown skirts that came with my decorator arrow crab. I must say, I've NEVER seen these before even on the popular zoa trading websites. Does that qualify these as unique or rare? I hope so... cause these are totally cool.

Definitely more to come...

Uh oh, first spontaneous purchase... a decorator arrow crab

I went to the LFS today not really intending on buying anything except a peppermint shrimp. Yes, my aiptasia problem is getting really bad. Well, the particular LFS I went to was selling them for $14... That ain't so cool. So instead I looked around and spotted this beauty.


First of all, I didn't even know there was a species of arrow crab that likes to decorate themselves... but I guess this particular one feels the need to do so. Well, the good news is, for $12, not only did I get this crab, I got some really cool zoanthids to go with it. I think one opened up and it has a white center and brown skirts. That would make my current zoanthid collection to about 13 different types of polyps. (I still need a blue and pink!)

I must say, in the dark, he seems like a zoa branch. Maybe this is his trick to get food at night. Hopefully when I do buy my peppermints, he won't be finishing them off like they're the meal of the night.

Do as I say, not as I do...

Well, it's now day three of the tank fill experiment and everything looks good so far. Unfortunately I only have one small pump in there but the small amount of current is keeping everything alive.

The tank finally cleared up yesterday which I attribute to the live rocks. I know this camera phone picture doesn't say it but it truly does look AWESOME.

Even though I have chaeto in the fuge and new live rocks that I think should be cycling, I really have nothing to test the water with right now. Yeah... I think the test kits are a rip off plus most tanks can be kept alive and great with careful watch unless you're trying to take care of some unique species. Of course, I do have some experience under my belt so I know what to look for, but you should totally get the test kits if you're new in the hobby.

On another note, I am officially starting my zoa obession and I'm trying really hard to wait till the tank is cycled before I dive into any stocking. At last count, I have 12 different kinds of zoanthids + yellow polyps in my small tank. Yikes! I know... but of course, I'm looking to get like 10 more different types before I'm settled. Actually, I would just like some pinks, reds, blues and purples to finish off my collection. I don't necessarily need 10 more types. (yet)

Impatience, the good and the bad

Geez... the pumps, the heaters and the temperature gauge that was supposed to show up on Friday did not show up and aren't due to be here till Tuesday. This is supposed to set me back, but I have a different idea.

It's really hard to stare at a full tank and not have anything in there so last night I threw a couple of zoas in there to see if they will survive. I know, I know... but I'm impatient. The good news is that they seem to be surviving and they also seem to be loving the new light, even though the flow has been decreased a lot in this new tank.

This morning, I decided to drive up to Petland Duluth to get some rock. I heard from Tony that they have some decent selection in there and their website shows a pretty healthy selection of fish. Well, the rocks were okay... I saw some thick slabs that were fit for a sidewalk. The prices were a bit high at $8 per pound to $13 per pound. Well, after some digging around, underneith the slabs, they actually had some pretty nice Fiji rocks. Well, I ended up getting about 14 lbs of rocks... more spontaneous buying considering they weren't covered in coralline. Overall, I am pretty happy with the decision though. The rocks were porous and they stack pretty. What do you think?

Please no leaky...

So I decided to move a lil faster than previously considered. I ordered 2 SEIO 620's, 2 heaters and a temperature sticker from Dr. Foster's this week. I was going to wait till they arrive to setup the tank but honestly, no one wants a 29G tank on their dining table nor do they like seeing it empty.

So tonight I decided to fill the tank up to run a leak test. Leak test normally consists of water and maybe some pumps... I have the water and the only pump I had was to the Aquafuge... so that's currently running for now. Don't ask me how the sand and base rock got in there though; those shouldn't have been part of the leak test.




On a side note, if the tank does leak or knock on wood, bust up, my career in this hobby is over. The good news is that the show piece base rocks look great and so does the dark blue background. So far I can hardly tell the black equipment is there... hopefully that still holds true when the water clears up.

The somewhat unfortunate news is that I'm now used to the Caribbean sand in my 12G and this new southdown sand is a lot finer and feels like quicksand. Will that harden up over time? I hope so...

edit: by having the base rocks in there and pouring the water in via the top of the base rocks, I was able to avoid the dreaded sand storm. Yay me!

The 29 gallon setup

In my fish tank world, this is very close to the "best weekend ever!"


My SunPod arrived on Friday. My medium sized Aquafuge arrived on Saturday. While I was going to buy a used 29G from a local reefer who seemed to have disappeared, I ended up getting a new one for about $40; so I can't complain.

Besides for the heater, and a circulating pump which I seemed to have conveniently forgot, I'm almost set for the upgrade. Of course, a weekend isn't complete without a DIY project so I decided to paint the background of the tank.


Now, the debate between blue vs. black has been forever ongoing... One thing I knew for certain is that I did not want the background clear and red, which is the color of my dining room. While black allows the pumps and other equipment to fade into the background and disappear from direct view, it does have the minor disadvantage of sucking in some of the light into its abyss. Since I knew I wanted to use black for my 90 gallon tank some time down the road, I decided to try something different for the small tank at hand.


I ended up buying a deep blue Satin finish Krylon Fusion spray paint to hopefully achieve a nice marine blue background. One thing I dislike about blue backgrounds I've seen at some LFS is how bright the blue is. If you buy a regular blue, that high end light setup you have will make it a ton brighter, therefore, go dark. DARK = GOOD.

After many many coats and then a few more, the tank is ready. Well, you have to clean it first and wipe down the paint dust... but minor accident of spilling a quart of water on myself aside, the tank is cleaned and ready.


Now, once I get the pump and heater this week, the tank swap on that stand will be ready to get on the way! After the tank swap, frag swap. (FINALLY)

P.S. Metal Halide rules so much more than PC!

So what's next? Can someone say 29G?

Okay, so not too much has been happening on my end partially due to the recent increased workload and partially due to stress. Well, that's not exactly true. I did but two frags of zoo's from the local fish store and I have been watching patiently as they grow.

The other reason why things have been slowing down is the adoption of my new dog Lily (the tan dog).


For the most part, this past week was just filled with learning her schedule, making sure she got along with Chloe, my other dog and of course, vet visits. Now that we've pretty much nailed down her schedule as well, the reef upgrade can continue.

I've decided to hold off on the 90G upgrade for a short period of time until I can catch up to the potential vet bills. Instead, I am upgrading my 12G Eclipse to a 29G softies tank. The good news is most things I've purchased in anticipation for the upgrade can be parted out to this 29 gallon. Also, my 12G can now be a frag tank if I so choose.

So far, the proposed upgrades include:

• 29G tank (it may be AGA or some cheaper brand)


• A 30" SunPod 150W HQI MH light


• A medium sized CPR HOB Aquafuge to serve as my small refugium

As soon as the items above come in, I will snap some shots...

Should I use a skimmer? My current setup doesn't have one and this will, for the most part, be a softies tank. Things to ponder on I guess...