Darcy Vasudev
Guest
Hey, normally I wouldn't post pics at this messy stage, but because people have been asking, I will, and hopefully in a couple months I'll have some nice progress reports to post to do some before and afters. Pics are a little snotty because I just did a partial water change a couple hours ago.
First off, let me preface and say, I just moved the tank 4 weeks ago (and prior to that it hadn't had a water change in about a year and the tank was more or less FOLR and just shrooms and Kenya for the last 6 years) so it's kind of dirty from the upheaval and having some algae blooms at the moment. For those of you who don't already know me, I have been in the hobby for about 17 years but been on hiatus for about 6 or 7 years and wanting to start up again.
I am committed to a 100% aquacultured or hobbyist-propagated coral collection. I love LPS for their flowy relaxing qualities, but would like to have a few SPS so I don't have to explain to guests that LPS are not "plants".
I like really simple set-ups that don't rely on lots of equipment and monitors to maintain the system.
Current Equipment:
Tank, I don't recall the brand but it's about 20 gallons, no sump
HOB skimmer
Powerhead (feeling the flow is a little low right now, may add another)
150 15k Kessil LED (just switched over today! they're a lot bluer than the 20k halide I had prior)
Livestock:
2 Ocellaris ( one of which is the offspring of a pair I had ages ago that Robin/Fingerwrinkles raised fry from)
1 lone hermit crab
A sh*tload of Capnella (anyone want some?)
Discosoma shrooms
Rhodactis hairy shrooms
Eagle eye zoas
Montipora setosa (kind of unsure if this is going to do ok, I may have to give that frag a new home, an alkalinity swing kind of upset it, though it's looking better now)
Monti vietnamensis from the swap (already growing fast and encrusting)
Unidentified monti from the swap (started out greenish but has browned out, may need to move it higher up, very large polyp extension and fast encrusting)
Hammer coral from Geneva (accidentally broke it in half, so will bring one half to the next swap, it's very plump and I love it)
Meteor Shower Cyphastrea from Aquanut from the swap (already colored up as it was a bit bleached and it's growing FAST)
GSP
Pests: at the moment, my tank is completely free of aiptasia, bryopsis, planaria - YAY! Green algae and cyano bloom at the moment is my current concern.
Goals:
Add deeper sandbed
Swapping out my broken halide fixture for Kessil LEDs (tomorrow!)
Weekly partial water changes to reduce nutrient load
Getting rid of some of those mushrooms and Kenya
Observations:
My new location has huge windows and skylights which are potentially problematic. Really need to keep nutrient levels in check, empty the skimmer regularly, and keep up with turkey-basting the rockwork before water changes. Waiting for coralline to re-grow as my re-arrangement of the rockwork when I moved has buried some of it and left white parts of rock exposed.
Wants:
Would like to add another fish eventually, and scarlet cleaner shrimp (I miss having my cuticles cleaned by "Scampi")
First off, let me preface and say, I just moved the tank 4 weeks ago (and prior to that it hadn't had a water change in about a year and the tank was more or less FOLR and just shrooms and Kenya for the last 6 years) so it's kind of dirty from the upheaval and having some algae blooms at the moment. For those of you who don't already know me, I have been in the hobby for about 17 years but been on hiatus for about 6 or 7 years and wanting to start up again.
I am committed to a 100% aquacultured or hobbyist-propagated coral collection. I love LPS for their flowy relaxing qualities, but would like to have a few SPS so I don't have to explain to guests that LPS are not "plants".I like really simple set-ups that don't rely on lots of equipment and monitors to maintain the system.
Current Equipment:
Tank, I don't recall the brand but it's about 20 gallons, no sump
HOB skimmer
Powerhead (feeling the flow is a little low right now, may add another)
150 15k Kessil LED (just switched over today! they're a lot bluer than the 20k halide I had prior)
Livestock:
2 Ocellaris ( one of which is the offspring of a pair I had ages ago that Robin/Fingerwrinkles raised fry from)
1 lone hermit crab
A sh*tload of Capnella (anyone want some?)
Discosoma shrooms
Rhodactis hairy shrooms
Eagle eye zoas
Montipora setosa (kind of unsure if this is going to do ok, I may have to give that frag a new home, an alkalinity swing kind of upset it, though it's looking better now)
Monti vietnamensis from the swap (already growing fast and encrusting)
Unidentified monti from the swap (started out greenish but has browned out, may need to move it higher up, very large polyp extension and fast encrusting)
Hammer coral from Geneva
(accidentally broke it in half, so will bring one half to the next swap, it's very plump and I love it)Meteor Shower Cyphastrea from Aquanut from the swap (already colored up as it was a bit bleached and it's growing FAST)
GSP
Pests: at the moment, my tank is completely free of aiptasia, bryopsis, planaria - YAY! Green algae and cyano bloom at the moment is my current concern.
Goals:
Add deeper sandbed
Swapping out my broken halide fixture for Kessil LEDs (tomorrow!)
Weekly partial water changes to reduce nutrient load
Getting rid of some of those mushrooms and Kenya
Observations:
My new location has huge windows and skylights which are potentially problematic. Really need to keep nutrient levels in check, empty the skimmer regularly, and keep up with turkey-basting the rockwork before water changes. Waiting for coralline to re-grow as my re-arrangement of the rockwork when I moved has buried some of it and left white parts of rock exposed.
Wants:
Would like to add another fish eventually, and scarlet cleaner shrimp (I miss having my cuticles cleaned by "Scampi")
Nano reef with Kessil lamp
